Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the results of its drive test conducted across Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra during April 14-17, 2026, evaluating the mobile network performance of Airtel, BSNL, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea. The assessment covered 451.7 km of city routes, 567.3 km of highways, 13 hotspot locations, and 8.5 km of walk tests, providing a comprehensive comparison of operator performance across voice and data services.
Reliance Jio emerged as the strongest performer in mobile data speeds. In Sindhudurg district, Jio recorded the highest average download speed of 127.94 Mbps, ahead of Airtel at 94.50 Mbps, Vodafone Idea at 20.51 Mbps, and BSNL at 2.30 Mbps. Airtel, however, led upload performance with 17.62 Mbps, followed by Jio at 11.35 Mbps, Vodafone Idea at 3.81 Mbps, and BSNL at 1.62 Mbps.
On the Pune-Panaji highway, Jio significantly extended its lead with an average download speed of 209.96 Mbps, more than double Airtel’s 97.74 Mbps. Vodafone Idea delivered 49.24 Mbps, while BSNL achieved 5.07 Mbps. Jio also led highway upload speeds with 19.90 Mbps, narrowly ahead of Airtel’s 19.08 Mbps. Vodafone Idea recorded 11.33 Mbps, while BSNL posted 1.87 Mbps.
Voice coverage testing showed varying levels of network quality across operators. In Sindhudurg district, poor signal strength samples were 8,630 out of 25,174 for Airtel, 15,234 out of 45,856 for BSNL, 11,473 out of 38,823 for Reliance Jio, and 13,307 out of 35,311 for Vodafone Idea.
Along the Pune-Panaji highway, Airtel recorded 6,273 poor signal samples out of 43,980, BSNL 14,318 out of 42,702, Reliance Jio 4,189 out of 46,229, and Vodafone Idea 5,897 out of 45,418, indicating Jio and Vodafone Idea provided comparatively stronger highway coverage.
In dropped call performance within Sindhudurg, Airtel recorded 8 dropped calls out of 226 successfully established calls, outperforming Jio with 21 out of 364, Vodafone Idea with 24 out of 327, and BSNL with 30 out of 399. On the Pune-Panaji highway, Jio and Vodafone Idea jointly delivered the best results with 10 dropped calls each out of 237 and 233 established calls, respectively. Airtel recorded 13 dropped calls out of 226, while BSNL reported the highest at 34 out of 226.
Call silence incidents also highlighted differences in voice quality. Within Sindhudurg district, Airtel recorded 17 silence instances out of 218 calls, BSNL 5 out of 319, Reliance Jio 26 out of 330, and Vodafone Idea 11 out of 292. During the highway drive, Airtel registered 23 silence instances out of 216 calls, BSNL 9 out of 195, Reliance Jio 11 out of 233, and Vodafone Idea only 4 out of 232, making Vodafone Idea the best performer for call continuity on the highway.
The drive test covered major locations including Kunkeshwar, Devgad, Kasal, Kudal, Sawantwadi, Vengurla, Tarkarli, Malvan, Achra, Chivla Beach, Devbagh Beach, Sindhudurg Fort, Kankavli, Oros, Kudal MIDC, Kudal Railway Station, Malvan Jetty, Sawantwadi Lake, and Vengurla Market, along with the Pune-Panaji highway passing through Pirangut, Tamhini, Mangaon, Lonere, Poladpur, Khed, Sangameshwar, Rajapur, Talere, Kudal, and Goa Dabolim International Airport.
Overall, TRAI’s April 2026 drive test indicates that Reliance Jio delivered the fastest mobile broadband experience across both urban and highway routes, Airtel maintained strong upload performance and low dropped call rates, Vodafone Idea demonstrated competitive highway voice stability, while BSNL continued to trail private operators in both voice and data network performance.
SHAFANA FAZAL
