Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has released the findings of its Drive Test conducted in January 2026 along the coastal river routes of Herobhanga, Bidyadhari and Datta in the Sundarban region of West Bengal. The assessment measured real-world mobile network performance across village residential areas, tourist spots, local businesses and riverine stretches.
41 km Coastal Drive Test Across Key Sundarban Locations
The drive test, carried out on January 29, 2026, covered 41.0 km along the rivers Herobhanga, Bidyadhari and Datta, along with one hotspot location. The evaluation included 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G technologies to reflect the experience of users with different handset capabilities.
The areas assessed included Jharkhali, Amlamethi, Sajnekhali, Sonagar and Gadkhali. TRAI conducted static testing at Jhore Joie Jongole – Eco Heritage Resort in Jharkhali to evaluate network performance under real-world stationary conditions.
Voice Performance: Airtel and Jio Deliver 100 percent Call Setup Success
In auto-selection mode (5G 4G 3G 2G), voice service performance showed significant variation among operators.
Call Setup Success Rate:
Airtel: 100.00 percent
BSNL: 18.37 percent
Jio: 100.00 percent
Vodafone Idea: 91.61 percent
Call Setup Time:
Airtel: 1.91 seconds
BSNL: 7.20 seconds
Jio: 0.75 seconds
Vodafone Idea: 1.53 seconds
Drop Call Rate:
Airtel: 0.00 percent
BSNL: 8.89 percent
Jio: 0.68 percent
Vodafone Idea: 0.00 percent
The results indicate strong voice reliability from Airtel and RJIL, while BSNL recorded significantly lower call setup success and higher drop call rates along the tested coastal stretch.
5G Data Performance: Jio Tops Download and Upload Speeds
In overall data download performance:
Airtel (5G 4G): 58.81 Mbps
BSNL (4G 3G 2G): 3.24 Mbps
Jio (5G 4G): 60.40 Mbps
Vodafone Idea (4G 2G): 21.65 Mbps
Jio delivered the highest average download speed of 60.40 Mbps during the coastal drive test.
For overall upload performance:
Airtel: 8.33 Mbps
BSNL: 3.58 Mbps
Jio: 17.49 Mbps
Vodafone Idea: 6.60 Mbps
Jio again led in upload speeds with 17.49 Mbps.
Latency Performance
The 50th percentile latency recorded during the test was:
Airtel: 69.83 ms
BSNL: 154.01 ms
Jio: 34.79 ms
Vodafone Idea: 47.97 ms
Lower latency observed in Jio and Vodafone Idea networks indicates better responsiveness for real-time applications such as video calls and online services.
Signal Strength Challenges in Coastal and City Drive Segments
During voice testing in auto-selection mode, poor signal strength along the IDT route was observed for:
Airtel: 4.27 percent
BSNL: 25.81 percent
Jio: 9.64 percent
Vodafone Idea: 11.74 percent
For data testing, poor signal conditions were recorded for:
Airtel: 24.44 percent
BSNL: 24.81 percent
Jio: 25.95 percent
Vodafone Idea: 11.76 percent
These figures highlight network coverage gaps in certain riverine and remote stretches of the Sundarban area.
Hotspot Performance at Jharkhali
At the hotspot location in Jharkhali, the recorded data performance was:
Airtel
4G download: 5.81 Mbps
4G upload: 4.76 Mbps
Jio
4G download: 17.86 Mbps
4G upload: 4.92 Mbps
5G download: 24.10 Mbps
5G upload: 5.73 Mbps
The hotspot results further reinforce RJIL’s advantage in 5G-enabled locations.
Strengthening Rural and Coastal Connectivity
The Drive Test in the Sundarban coastal corridor underscores the importance of strengthening telecom infrastructure in ecologically sensitive and geographically challenging areas. While Airtel and RJIL demonstrated strong 5G and voice performance, the results point to the need for network improvements by other operators, particularly in call reliability and signal strength.
FASNA SHABEER
