The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the results of its drive test conducted on the Munabao–Tanot National Highway (NH-70) in Rajasthan, highlighting significant differences in the mobile network performance of Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, and Vodafone Idea. The drive test, conducted on 3 June 2026, covered 311.4 km along the strategic highway route connecting Munabao, Sundra, Myajlar, Gunjangarh, Bandha, Longewala, Sadhawala, and Tanot.
Jio Delivers the Best Overall Coverage
Reliance Jio emerged as the strongest performer in terms of mobile coverage during the highway drive test. Out of 14,701 signal samples collected in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G), Jio recorded only 881 no-coverage samples, the lowest among all operators. However, it registered 4,403 poor signal strength samples, indicating that while network availability was high, signal quality varied in certain stretches.
Bharti Airtel recorded 5,728 no-coverage samples out of 14,130 total samples and 5,271 poor signal strength samples.
BSNL experienced significantly weaker coverage, with 8,509 no-coverage samples from 10,174 collected samples, though it reported only 793 poor signal strength samples where coverage was available.
Vodafone Idea faced the largest coverage gaps, registering 9,227 no-coverage samples out of 11,286 total samples, along with 1,561 poor signal strength samples.
Jio and Airtel Lead Voice Call Reliability
TRAI’s drive test also evaluated dropped call performance by measuring dropped calls against successfully established calls.
Reliance Jio recorded 3 dropped calls out of 76 successfully established calls, representing the best overall voice reliability among operators tested.
Bharti Airtel experienced 10 dropped calls from 48 successful calls, while BSNL recorded 2 dropped calls from only 6 established calls. Vodafone Idea reported 1 dropped call out of 8 established calls, although its limited call volume reflected the network’s weaker coverage across the route.
Call Silence Performance
For call quality, TRAI measured instances where voice became silent for more than three seconds during active calls.
Bharti Airtel recorded 4 call silence instances out of 32 established calls, while Reliance Jio registered 8 silence instances from 68 calls.
BSNL recorded 2 silence instances across 7 calls.
TRAI was unable to evaluate Vodafone Idea’s call silence performance because 4G and 5G network availability was insufficient along much of the route.
Jio Tops Download Speed, Airtel Leads Upload Performance
Reliance Jio delivered the fastest average download speed during the drive test.
The average download throughput reached 55.05 Mbps on Jio’s 5G/4G network, outperforming Airtel’s 42.83 Mbps.
BSNL recorded an average download speed of 3.49 Mbps across its 4G/3G/2G network, while Vodafone Idea managed only 0.35 Mbps on its 5G/4G/2G network.
For upload performance, Airtel emerged as the leader with an average upload speed of 14.03 Mbps, ahead of Jio’s 7.01 Mbps.
BSNL recorded 2.80 Mbps, while Vodafone Idea delivered only 0.75 Mbps average upload speed.
Operator Performance Highlights
The TRAI drive test indicates that Reliance Jio offered the strongest combination of network coverage, voice reliability, and download speeds along the 311.4-km Munabao–Tanot NH-70 corridor, making it the best-performing operator on the route.
Bharti Airtel ranked second, delivering competitive download performance and the fastest upload speeds, although it experienced higher coverage gaps and more dropped calls than Jio.
BSNL continued to face major network availability challenges despite relatively lower poor-signal observations where coverage existed.
Vodafone Idea recorded the weakest overall performance, with the highest coverage gaps, extremely low download and upload speeds, and insufficient 4G/5G availability for complete voice quality assessment.
SHAFANA FAZAL