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Reliance Jio (RJio) and Bharti Airtel have emerged as leaders among telecom service providers (TSPs) in terms of the quality of mobile voice and data services, according to the latest Independent Drive Test (IDT) report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
The report, which assesses the network quality for mobile voice and data services across Mysuru, Dharamshala, Chennai, Chandigarh, and Kolkata, highlights a stark performance gap among the TSPs in India. While RJio and Airtel demonstrated the most reliable networks, BSNL consistently underperformed in both voice and data services.
The findings reveal that RJio and Airtel consistently achieved higher call setup success rates, lower drop call rates, and superior data speeds, particularly on their 4G and 5G networks. BSNL, on the other hand, faced significant challenges, with call drop rates exceeding the 2% benchmark in multiple cities and notably lower speech quality scores. The state-owned operator also recorded lowest data speeds, struggling to compete with its private-sector counterparts.
Vodafone Idea (Vi), on the other hand, reported mixed performance. It has decent call success rates and speech quality but lags behind Airtel and RJio in terms of data speed.
The drive tests, conducted in November 2024, evaluated telecom networks on key performance indicators such as call setup success rate or CSSR, call drop rate or DCR, speech quality, data speeds, latency, and jitter across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks.
Airtel, Vi Lead in Voice Quality, BSNL Struggles
TRAI’s IDT report indicates that Airtel and RJio achieved a 100% call setup success rate in multiple cities, ensuring seamless connectivity. BSNL, however, exceeded the 2% call drop rate benchmark in Mysuru (3.46%), Chennai (2.19%), Chandigarh (2.85%), and Kolkata (2.07%), indicating serious reliability issues.
On the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) for speech quality, Airtel and Vi scored above four on average, while BSNL recorded the lowest MOS across all cities. RJio’s MOS ranged from 3.89 to 3.96, indicating good voice quality but slightly below the ideal benchmark of 4+. BSNL, on the other hand, reported the lowest MOS, ranging from 2.61 to 3.02, indicating poor speech clarity compared to the private-sector TSPs.
RJio and Airtel Dominate Data Speeds
With India emerging as a digital economy, data speed is a key parameter influencing subscribers’ choice of operator. The TRAI report reveals that RJio and Airtel consistently outperformed competitors in overall download and upload speeds. While RJio had the highest download speeds in all five cities, peaking at 309.07 Mbps in Kolkata, Airtel stood second in most cities, with 210.84 Mbps in Kolkata and 223.90 Mbps in Dharamshala.
Airtel had an edge on the upload speeds across all cities, reaching 47.87 Mbps in Kolkata. It was followed by RJio, with upload speeds ranging from 35.14 Mbps in Kolkata to 23.71 Mbps in Dharamshala. BSNL had the lowest download and upload speeds, as low as 1.95 Mbps and 1.68 Mbps in Kolkata, reflecting its continued struggle in data service quality.
Conversely, Vi delivered moderate data performance, with download speeds of 29.68 Mbps in Chandigarh, 28.92 Mbps in Kolkata, 20.06 Mbps in Chennai, 19.63 Mbps in Mysuru, and 16.87 Mbps in Dharamshala. Its upload speeds also remain weak, ranging between a low of 5.78 Mbps in Dharamshala and a high of 12.88 in Chandigarh.
The TRAI report underscores a widening performance gap between private and public-sector telcos. With Airtel and RJio aggressively rolling out 5G networks, their lead in speed and reliability is widening, raising questions about BSNL’s ability to compete in the evolving telecom landscape. Similarly, while Vi lags in data speed, its plan to launch 5G mobile broadband services in March may help improve its overall IDT scores in the future.