TRAI released the findings of its Drive Test for Mumbai based on testing conducted from 3 to 7 November 2025. The tests covered 320.2 km across city roads, hotspots, walk routes, coastal areas and local railway corridors to assess real-world mobile network performance in urban, institutional, public transport and high-speed environments.
The assessment evaluated 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G services across voice and data parameters, including call setup success rate, drop call rate, speech quality, coverage, data throughput, latency and video streaming performance. Results have been shared with all telecom service providers for corrective action.
In auto-selection mode across all technologies, call setup success rates stood at 99.62 percent for Airtel, 28.52 percent for MTNL, 99.81 percent for Reliance Jio and 96.07 percent for Vodafone Idea. Drop call rates were 0.00 percent for Airtel, 22.47 percent for MTNL, 0.56 percent for Reliance Jio and 6.43 percent for Vodafone Idea, highlighting wide variations in network performance among operators in Mumbai.
The voice services assessment shows strong performance by Airtel and Reliance Jio, while MTNL and Vodafone Idea lag on several parameters. In auto-selection mode across 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G, call setup success rates were highest for Reliance Jio at 99.81 percent, followed by Airtel at 99.62 percent and Vodafone Idea at 96.07 percent, while MTNL recorded a significantly lower rate of 28.52 percent.
Call setup times were fastest on Reliance Jio at 0.60 seconds, followed by Airtel at 1.32 seconds. Vodafone Idea and MTNL reported longer setup times of 5.07 seconds and 4.71 seconds respectively. Drop call rates were lowest on Airtel at zero percent and Reliance Jio at 0.56 percent, compared with 6.43 percent for Vodafone Idea and a high 22.47 percent for MTNL.
On packet-switched networks, call silence or mute rates remained relatively low for Reliance Jio at 1.12 percent, Vodafone Idea at 1.40 percent and Airtel at 2.25 percent. Mean Opinion Scores indicated better perceived call quality for Vodafone Idea at 4.44, followed by Airtel at 3.91 and Reliance Jio at 3.80, while MTNL trailed with a score of 2.67.
The data services assessment highlights a wide gap in network performance among operators, with Reliance Jio leading on most parameters. Overall average download speeds were highest on Reliance Jio at 221.34 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 84.99 Mbps and Vodafone Idea at 49.79 Mbps, while MTNL lagged significantly at 4.05 Mbps. Upload performance showed a similar trend, with Reliance Jio recording 32.82 Mbps, Airtel 25.86 Mbps, Vodafone Idea 18.94 Mbps and MTNL 1.11 Mbps.
Latency performance favored Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio, with 50th percentile latency of 14.91 ms and 21.36 ms respectively, compared with 35.00 ms for Airtel and 34.27 ms for MTNL.
In hotspot locations, 5G networks delivered a substantial boost in speeds. Reliance Jio achieved the highest 5G download throughput at 319.76 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 134.32 Mbps and Vodafone Idea at 51.52 Mbps. On 4G, download speeds ranged from 42.39 Mbps on Reliance Jio to 28.97 Mbps on Vodafone Idea. Upload speeds at hotspots were also stronger on 5G, led by Airtel at 36.85 Mbps and Reliance Jio at 34.13 Mbps, while Vodafone Idea posted 21.72 Mbps on 5G.
TRAI’s Mumbai assessment covered a wide range of high-density residential and commercial neighbourhoods, including Colaba, Cuffe Parade, Dadar, Dharavi, Bandra East, Kurla, Chembur, Ghatkopar and Mankhurd, to capture mobile network performance in densely populated urban settings. The exercise also evaluated service quality at key public and institutional locations such as CSMT and Ghatkopar railway stations, the Collector Office in Chembur East, KEM Hospital, Saki Naka Metro Station, major market areas, and prominent public spaces including Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and the Byculla Museum, reflecting the experience of stationary users.
Walk tests were conducted at busy pedestrian locations including Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Tata Memorial Hospital and Wadala Station East to assess network behaviour in crowded environments. In addition, a local railway drive test from CSMT to Khopoli examined service quality along one of Mumbai’s busiest commuter corridors, while a coastal drive test from the Gateway of India to Karanja and back assessed network performance along the coastal route.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH
