SRINAGAR: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released findings of its Independent Drive Test (IDT) for the Jammu and Kashmir Licensed Service Area, indicating robust 5G-led data performance by private telecom operators, while highlighting comparatively weaker service quality metrics for BSNL.
The tests, conducted between February 2 and 5, 2026 under the supervision of TRAI’s Delhi regional office, covered 178.2 km of city routes and 620.5 km of highways, along with six hotspot locations, a 3.5 km walk test and inter-operator calling assessment. The exercise evaluated network performance across 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G technologies in real-world conditions spanning dense urban zones, institutional clusters and high-speed corridors.
In voice services, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) and Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) recorded the highest call setup success rates at 99.12 per cent and 99.26 per cent respectively, followed by Airtel at 98.83 per cent. BSNL lagged significantly at 81.62 per cent. Call setup time was also fastest on RJIL networks at 0.66 seconds, compared to 0.94 seconds on VIL and 1.40 seconds on Airtel, while BSNL recorded a substantially higher 4.05 seconds.
Drop call rates remained lowest for VIL at 0.60 per cent, followed by Airtel at 0.74 per cent and RJIL at 1.18 per cent. BSNL again showed weaker performance with a drop call rate of 7.87 per cent. Similarly, call silence or mute rates were highest for BSNL at 6.83 per cent, compared to 0.53 per cent for RJIL, 0.71 per cent for Airtel and 1.40 per cent for VIL. In terms of speech quality, measured through Mean Opinion Score, RJIL led with 4.43, followed by Airtel at 3.96, VIL at 3.83 and BSNL at 3.07.
Data performance metrics underscored the dominance of 5G-enabled networks. RJIL recorded the highest average download speed at 295.90 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 179.53 Mbps. VIL and BSNL trailed at 25.34 Mbps and 11.30 Mbps respectively. Upload speeds were comparable between RJIL and Airtel at around 30 Mbps, while VIL recorded 16.39 Mbps and BSNL 3.86 Mbps.
Latency performance showed RJIL with the lowest median latency at 22.84 milliseconds, followed by Airtel at 27.94 milliseconds and BSNL at 29.72 milliseconds. VIL recorded the highest latency at 43.38 milliseconds.
Hotspot-specific assessments also reflected strong 5G throughput, with RJIL achieving download speeds of 298.52 Mbps and Airtel 178.53 Mbps. On 4G networks, RJIL and Airtel maintained competitive performance, while BSNL and VIL reported lower throughput levels.
The Jammu city assessment covered key residential and commercial areas including Prem Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Miran Sahib, Gho Manhasan, Raipur Domana and Narwal. Critical public locations such as Government Medical College Jammu, Jammu Bus Stand, Jammu Tawi Railway Station, Jewel Chowk, Raghunath Temple and Satwari Chowk were also included.
A walk test conducted in Gole Market and Hari Market focused on network performance in dense pedestrian environments. Additionally, highway drive tests were carried out along the Delhi–Jammu corridor via Ambala and Jalandhar to evaluate service continuity during high-speed travel.
TRAI said the findings have been shared with all concerned telecom service providers for necessary action.
