TRAI drive tests reveal mobile network quality across Delhi

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the findings of its Independent Drive Test (IDT) for the Delhi Licensed Service Area (LSA), offering a snapshot of real-world mobile network performance across the national capital in December 2025.

The exercise, conducted under the supervision of the TRAI Regional Office in Delhi, assessed voice and data services across a wide range of usage environments, including urban residential zones, institutional hotspots, public transport hubs and high-speed corridors.

Between 15 and 25 December 2025, TRAI teams covered 347.4 km of city drive tests, carried out walk tests spanning 7.8 km, and evaluated performance at 12 hotspot locations. The assessment covered 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks, reflecting the experience of users across different handset capabilities. The findings have already been shared with the telecom service providers (TSPs) concerned.

Parameters assessed

The drive tests evaluated both voice and data quality of service (QoS) parameters. For voice services, key indicators included Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), Call Setup Time (CST), Drop Call Rate (DCR), call silence or mute rate, Mean Opinion Score (MOS) for speech quality, and network coverage.

Data services were assessed on parameters such as download and upload throughput, latency, jitter, packet drop rate and video streaming delay.

Voice service performance

In auto-selection mode across 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G networks, Airtel recorded a call setup success rate of 100 per cent, followed by Vodafone Idea (VIL) at 99.64 per cent, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) at 98.36 per cent, and MTNL at 95.23 per cent.

Call setup times were lowest on RJIL at 0.59 seconds, followed by VIL at 0.58 seconds and Airtel at 0.76 seconds. MTNL recorded a significantly higher call setup time of 3.27 seconds.

Drop call rates remained low for most operators, with Airtel at 0.12 per cent, RJIL at 0.36 per cent and VIL reporting zero drop calls. MTNL, however, recorded a drop call rate of 6.60 per cent.

On packet-switched networks (4G and 5G), Airtel reported a zero call silence rate, while RJIL and VIL recorded silence rates of 1.40 per cent and 0.93 per cent respectively.

In terms of speech quality, RJIL and VIL recorded the highest average Mean Opinion Score (MOS) of 4.44, followed by Airtel at 3.98. MTNL reported an average MOS of 2.75.

Data service performance

Overall data performance showed a wide variation across operators and technologies. RJIL recorded the highest average download speed at 265.51 Mbps on its 5G and 4G networks, followed by Airtel at 168.92 Mbps. Vodafone Idea recorded an average download speed of 34.35 Mbps across 5G, 4G and 2G, while MTNL’s 3G network delivered an average of 4.40 Mbps.

Upload speeds were led by Airtel at 25.54 Mbps, followed by Vodafone Idea at 22.96 Mbps and RJIL at 22.33 Mbps. MTNL recorded an average upload speed of 1.19 Mbps on its 3G network.

Latency performance was comparable across private operators, with 50th percentile latency recorded at 21.09 milliseconds for Airtel, 20.16 milliseconds for RJIL and 20.19 milliseconds for Vodafone Idea. MTNL recorded a latency of 22.06 milliseconds.

Hotspot performance

At hotspot locations, RJIL’s 5G network recorded the highest average download speed at 293.41 Mbps, compared with 149.27 Mbps for Airtel and 40.91 Mbps for Vodafone Idea. On 4G, RJIL achieved 33.19 Mbps, Airtel 22.23 Mbps and Vodafone Idea 19.17 Mbps.

Upload speeds at hotspots showed Vodafone Idea leading on 5G at 34.54 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 25.12 Mbps and RJIL at 23.86 Mbps. MTNL did not record 4G or 5G performance, as these technologies were not observed on its network.

Areas covered

The assessment covered a broad cross-section of Delhi, including high-density neighbourhoods such as Hauz Khas, Greater Kailash, Lajpat Nagar, Khan Market, Paharganj, Janpath Market, Rajinder Nagar, Punjabi Bagh, Ashok Vihar, Model Town, Jahangirpuri, Ballimaran and the Vishwavidyalaya area.

TRAI also evaluated network performance at prominent public and institutional locations, including Birla Mandir (Laxmi Narayan Temple), Delhi Public School R.K. Puram, Tis Hazari Courts, Hauz Khas Metro Station, India Gate, ISBT Kashmere Gate, Jama Masjid, New Delhi Railway Station, Rashtrapati Bhawan, Red Fort, Sarojini Nagar Market and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

The IDT results provide an independent view of mobile service quality in the capital, reflecting user experience across both legacy and next-generation networks.