Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the findings of its drive test conducted across Gangtok and Pakyong districts and the Deorali Bazar-Gangtok to Nathu La Pass corridor along NH 310 in Sikkim during 8-9 May 2026. The assessment evaluated the mobile network performance of Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea (Vi), and BSNL across voice and data services.
The drive test covered 102.8 km of city routes, 66.5 km of highway routes, and 5 hotspot locations, measuring customer experience across 5G, 4G, 3G, and 2G networks.
Jio leads data speeds across city and highway routes
Reliance Jio emerged as the fastest telecom operator in both city and highway testing. In the city drive, Jio delivered download speed of 63.89 Mbps, ahead of Airtel at 50.93 Mbps, Vodafone Idea at 22.12 Mbps, and BSNL at 10.88 Mbps.
On the highway route from Deorali Bazar to Nathu La Pass, Jio again led with download speed of 60.26 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 41.60 Mbps, Vodafone Idea at 13.79 Mbps, and BSNL at 6.68 Mbps.
For upload performance in the city, Jio narrowly topped the rankings with 13.80 Mbps, ahead of Airtel at 13.29 Mbps, Vodafone Idea at 10.47 Mbps, and BSNL at 4.10 Mbps.
Highway upload speeds were closely matched between Airtel and Jio, with Airtel recording 7.51 Mbps and Jio 7.50 Mbps, followed by Vodafone Idea at 4.86 Mbps and BSNL at 3.34 Mbps.
Airtel and Jio deliver the strongest voice experience
Jio recorded the lowest coverage gap in the city drive, with just 476 poor signal samples out of 18,790, followed by Airtel with 1,348 out of 18,887, Vodafone Idea with 3,504 out of 18,653, and BSNL with 6,388 out of 16,333.
On the highway route, Jio again led with 1,711 poor signal samples out of 8,802, while Vodafone Idea recorded 3,597 out of 7,563, Airtel 4,584 out of 13,089, and BSNL 6,087 out of 14,797.
In the city drive, Airtel and Vodafone Idea recorded zero dropped calls, achieving 0 dropped calls out of 131 and 0 out of 130 successfully established calls, respectively. Jio reported 3 dropped calls out of 134, while BSNL recorded 18 dropped calls out of 117.
Highway testing showed Airtel with 3 dropped calls out of 66, Vodafone Idea with 4 out of 36, Jio with 11 out of 49, and BSNL with 14 out of 72.
For call silence instances exceeding 3 seconds in the city, Jio performed best with 4 instances out of 125 calls, followed by BSNL with 5 out of 104, Vodafone Idea with 7 out of 122, and Airtel with 8 out of 129.
On the highway route, Jio again recorded the fewest call silence instances with 5 out of 36 calls, followed by BSNL with 7 out of 63, Vodafone Idea with 7 out of 31, and Airtel with 9 out of 48.
Testing covered key locations across Sikkim
TRAI’s assessment covered major urban locations including Gangtok, Ranipool, Pakyong, Rorathang, Kumrek, Rangpo, Majitar, Singtam, and Mangthang.
The highway testing evaluated network performance along NH 310 from Deorali Bazar to Nathu La Pass, passing through Gangtok, Tathangchen, Hanuman Tok, Rongyek, Tsomgo Lake, and Sherathang.
The regulator also assessed network quality at five hotspot locations: District Court Gangtok, Nathula Pass View Point, SDM Office Pakyong, STNM Hospital Gangtok, and TSOMGO Lake View Point.
The TRAI findings indicate that Reliance Jio delivered the strongest overall mobile broadband performance and the best network coverage, while Airtel matched Jio in several voice quality metrics, including zero dropped calls in city testing and the highest highway upload speed. Vodafone Idea delivered competitive voice performance in urban areas, whereas BSNL continued to trail rivals in coverage, voice reliability, and mobile broadband speeds.
SHAFANA FAZAL