The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the results of its drive test conducted across Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttar Pradesh West, highlighting the mobile network performance of Airtel, BSNL, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea. The assessment, carried out between June 29 and July 1, 2026, covered 292.3 kilometers of city roads, seven hotspot locations, and 1.4 kilometers of walk-test routes to evaluate voice quality, coverage, and mobile broadband performance.
TRAI’s findings show that Reliance Jio delivered the fastest average 5G download speed of 205.57 Mbps, ahead of Airtel at 128.99 Mbps and Vodafone Idea at 58.46 Mbps, while BSNL’s 4G network recorded 7.96 Mbps. For upload performance, Airtel led with 24.54 Mbps, followed closely by Jio at 23.21 Mbps, Vodafone Idea at 14.79 Mbps, and BSNL at 4.11 Mbps.
In terms of voice coverage, Vodafone Idea reported the fewest poor signal samples, with 952 coverage gaps out of 50,338 samples, followed by Airtel with 1,534 out of 50,508, Reliance Jio with 2,699 out of 50,069, and BSNL with 3,920 out of 49,983 samples collected during testing.
Voice call reliability also varied across operators. Vodafone Idea achieved the best performance with zero dropped calls out of 451 successfully established calls. Reliance Jio recorded 2 dropped calls out of 453, Airtel reported 10 out of 430, while BSNL registered 13 dropped calls out of 426 successful call attempts.
For call quality, measured through silence instances exceeding three seconds, Airtel recorded the lowest figure with 9 instances out of 414 calls, followed by Vodafone Idea with 12 out of 451, Reliance Jio with 18 out of 435, and BSNL with 21 out of 408 established calls.
The drive test evaluated network performance across key urban and suburban locations, including Doiwala, Jolly Grant, Rishikesh, Tapovan, Veerbhadra, Nepali Farm, Raiwala, Haridwar, Jwalapur, Bahadrabad, Salempur Mahdood, Devpura, Ranipur, and Sitapur.
Stationary hotspot testing was conducted at District Collectorate Office Haridwar, Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar Railway Station, Jolly Grant Airport, Raiwala Junction Railway Station, Rishikesh Bus Stand, and Yog Nagari Rishikesh Railway Station.
Walk tests covering 1.4 kilometers were also performed at Har Ki Pauri Ganga Ghat in Haridwar and Triveni Ganga Ghat in Rishikesh to assess mobile network performance in crowded pedestrian environments, TRAI said.
