Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea emerged as the strongest performers in the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) drive test conducted across Mumbai during June 2026.
While Vodafone Idea delivered the best network coverage with the fewest poor signal samples, Reliance Jio dominated 5G download and upload speeds and achieved the best voice quality performance. Airtel also posted strong results across voice and data services, whereas MTNL lagged significantly behind the private operators.
TRAI carried out the drive test between June 10 and June 12, 2026, covering 204.3 km of city roads and seven hotspot locations across Mumbai under the supervision of its Bengaluru Regional Office. The assessment covered major locations including Bandra-Worli Sea Link, Mahim, Dadar, Sion, Antop Hill, Worli, Parel, Sewri, Haji Ali, Mumbai Central, Byculla, Malabar Hill, Girgaon, Mazgaon and Churchgate, while hotspot testing included Byculla Railway Station, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Churchgate Railway Station, Dadar Railway Station, Gateway of India, Marine Drive and Parel Railway Station.
Vodafone Idea delivered the strongest radio coverage during the drive test, recording only 5 poor signal samples out of 54,511 observations. Airtel followed with 102 poor signal samples out of 54,857 observations, while Reliance Jio recorded 144 poor signal samples out of 54,576. MTNL performed significantly worse, registering 17,877 poor signal samples out of 23,461 observations, including 7,325 samples with no network coverage.
Reliance Jio delivered the best voice call reliability by completing the drive without a single dropped call, recording 0 dropped calls out of 489 successfully established calls. Airtel and Vodafone Idea each recorded only one dropped call out of 490 and 491 established calls respectively. MTNL experienced 28 dropped calls out of 203 established calls, the highest among all operators.
Voice quality also favored Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea. Both operators recorded only one call silence event lasting more than three seconds, with one silence call and one total silence instance each. Airtel reported 14 silence calls out of 481 established calls and 23 total silence instances, while MTNL did not provide applicable results for this parameter.
Reliance Jio dominated mobile broadband performance with the fastest average download speed of 237.81 Mbps on its 5G network, significantly ahead of Airtel’s 93.76 Mbps and Vodafone Idea’s 70.69 Mbps. MTNL did not report download throughput results. The operators had declared typical download throughputs of 15.00 Mbps for Reliance Jio, 15.00 Mbps for Vodafone Idea, 7.37 Mbps for Airtel and 2.86 Mbps for MTNL.
Reliance Jio also led upload performance with an average upload speed of 40.92 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 25.92 Mbps and Vodafone Idea at 25.57 Mbps. MTNL again did not report upload throughput. The declared typical upload throughput values were 7.00 Mbps for Reliance Jio, 8.00 Mbps for Vodafone Idea, 2.08 Mbps for Airtel and 0.25 Mbps for MTNL.
The TRAI drive test indicates that Reliance Jio delivered the strongest overall mobile network experience in Mumbai by combining zero dropped calls with the highest 5G download speed of 237.81 Mbps and upload speed of 40.92 Mbps.
Vodafone Idea stood out for network coverage with only five poor signal samples and also matched Reliance Jio in call silence performance. Airtel remained a close competitor with reliable voice quality and strong 5G throughput, while MTNL continued to trail substantially across coverage, voice reliability and mobile broadband performance.
SHAFANA FAZAL
