TRAI Assesses Mobile Network Quality across South Tripura District and adjoining areas in the State of Tripura under North East LSA.

Information Note to the Press (Press Release No. 101 / 2026)

TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA

www.trai.gov.in

New Delhi, 23 July, 2026

For Immediate Release

TRAI Assesses Mobile Network Quality across South Tripura District and adjoining areas in the State of

Tripura under North East LSA.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released findings of Independent Drive Test

(IDT) conducted across South Tripura District and adjoining areas in the State of Tripura under North East

LSA, during the month of May 2026, for information of general telecom consumers. The purpose of this drive

test is to assess and verify real time quality of mobile network services (both voice & data) provided by

Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). During the IDT, TRAI captures performance of TSPs for key Quality of

Service (QoS) parameters like Coverage, Call Drop Rate (CDR), Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), data

Download (DL) and Upload (UL) throughput etc., which are then published to inform Consumers and

encourage TSPs to improve their services.

2. These IDTs have been designed to capture on ground mobile network performance of all TSPs across

diverse usages environment like cities, hotspots, public transport hubs, etc. In this type of drive testing, live

data and voice sessions are established using SIM cards from all TSPs over 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks.

Multiple advanced test handsets are used, and the sessions are monitored and analysed in real-time using

advanced Software Systems.

3. TRAI, through its appointed agency, conducted drive tests across City drive – 244.2 KMs, Hotspot

locations - 9, Walk Test – 1.6 KMs in Tripura State during 13th May 2026 to 16th May 2026 in North East

LSA. These tests were conducted under the supervision of the TRAI Regional Office Kolkata. The

observations presented in drive test reports represent the performance of the TSPs on the area/ route under test

on the day/ time of conducting the drive test.

4. Drive Test Route Map: The following map provides overview of drive test routes indicating City

drive, Inter-operator calling, Hotspots and Walk tests, as per the legends shown on the map: -

5. Key Parameters Assessed

a) Coverage Gap: Percentage of samples, for which signal strength observed less than the minimum

prescribed signal strength for respective technology (2G/ 3G/ 4G/ 5G).

b) Voice Services: Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), Drop Call Rate (DCR), Call Setup Time, Call

Silence Rate, Speech Quality (MOS).

c) Call Silence Instance: Number of call silence instance occurred during the calls.

d) Data Services: Download/ Upload Throughput, Latency, Jitter, Packet Drop Rate

6. The overall mobile network performance in South Tripura District and adjoining areas for the key

parameters has been summarised below: -

a) Coverage Gap - The signal strength observed during voice testing on the city drive test route in

auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G), measured as the number of samples having poor signal

strength out of the total samples collected, was 6217/ 30754 for Airtel, 11854/ 28800 for BSNL,

7590/ 35527 for RJIL and 8627/ 19553 for VIL. Details of the coverage gaps have been provided

in the map Annexed.

b) Dropped Calls - Dropped calls, measured as the number of dropped calls out of the number of

successfully established calls, were 9/ 221 for Airtel, 22/ 176 for BSNL, 2/ 254 for RJIL and 24/

148 for VIL. Details of the dropped call locations have been provided in the map Annexed.

c) Call Silence Instance - Call silence instances, measured as the total number of silence instances

observed for > 3 seconds out of the total calls established, were 17/ 201 for Airtel, 24/ 131 for

BSNL, 20/ 244 for RJIL and 6/ 99 for VIL. Details of the call silence instance locations

have been provided in the map Annexed.

d) Data Download and Upload Throughput:

i) Data Download performance (Overall): Average download speed was observed as 88.67

Mbps for Airtel (5G/4G), 10.64 Mbps for BSNL (4G/2G), 46.11 Mbps for RJIL (5G/4G)

and 35.19 Mbps for VIL (5G/4G/2G). Detail of Download throughput has been provided in

the map Annexed.

ii) Data Upload performance (Overall): Average upload speed was observed as 17.32 Mbps

for Airtel (5G/4G), 3.25 Mbps for BSNL (4G/ 2G), 3.83 Mbps for RJIL (5G/4G) and 6.84

Mbps for VIL (5G/4G/2G). Detail of Upload throughput has been provided in the map

Annexed.

Locations of Dropped Calls and Call Silence instances can be seen by clicking red dot on the map

Annexed.

7. Details of drive test route and area covered during the IDT is as under: -

a) City - The areas covered in the city drive Rajnagar, Belonia, Paikhola, Rajapur, Santirbazar,

Baikhora, Jolaibari, Gardhang, Bhuratali, Manu Bazar, Kalachara, Sabroom, Baishnabpur, Dakshin

Manu Bankul and Matai etc. in Cities and Adjoining areas of South Tripura District.

b) Hotspot - The hot spot locations, capturing stationary user experience, are (i) Belonia Sub Post

Office Bank Rd Opp. to Old Motor Stand Belonia; (ii) District Court Belonia; (iii) District Hospital

Santirbazar; (iv) Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar College Belonia; (v) Jolaibari BDO Office Muhuripur R.F.;

(vi) Manu H.S. School Manu Bazar; (vii) Sabroom Sub-Divisional Hospital Sabroom; (viii) The Court

of Additional District and Sessions Judge Sabroom; (ix) Trishna Wild Life Sanctuary Belonia

Joychandrapur.

Annexure

1. South Tripura District (City drive)

a) Coverage Gap – The coverage distribution found less than the minimum specified signal strength for

the drive test route in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G) during voice testing, is as below:

Parameter AIRTEL BSNL RJIL VIL

Total Number of Samples captured on Drive test route 30754 28800 35527 19553

Number of Samples having poor signal strength 6217 11854 7590 8627

Number of Samples having limited service (No

Coverage) 3592 3198 0 10494

Note: Signal strength has been considered poor if it falls below −110 dBm for 5G & 4G, −90 dBm for

3G, and −85 dBm for 2G.

Coverage Gap observed

Note: Plot is based on Dynamic Drive Test results only.

AIRTEL

BSNL

Note: Plot is based on Dynamic Drive Test results only.

RJIL

VIL

b) Dropped Calls - The TSP-wise details of dropped calls in auto-selection mode (5G/ 4G/ 3G/ 2G) are

as below:

Parameter AIRTEL BSNL RJIL VIL

Number of successful Calls Established 221 176 254 148

Number of dropped Calls 9 22 2 24

Locations of Dropped Calls

Note: Dropped calls locations are shown in red colour and which can be clicked to know the exact

location (latitude and longitude) on the maps.

BSNLAIRTEL

RJIL VIL

c) Call Silence Instance - The TSP-wise details of Call silence instance in Auto-selection mode (5G/4G)

are as below:

Parameter AIRTEL BSNL RJIL VIL

Call Established

(within service provider network) 201 131 244 99

Number of silences calls for >3 Sec 17 24 20 6

Total number of silence instances for >3 Sec 11 18 9 4

Locations of Call Silence Instance

Note: Call silence instances are shown in red colour and which can be clicked to know the exact

location (latitude and longitude) on the map.

AIRTEL BSNL

VILRJIL

d) Data Download and Upload throughput: The TSP-wise details of Average Download (DL) and

Upload (UL) throughput against declared typical DL/UL Throughput for month, in Auto-selection

mode (5G/4G/3G/2G) are as below:

(i) Download Throughput

Parameter Measured in AIRTEL

(upto 5G)

BSNL

(upto 4G)

RJIL

(upto 5G)

VIL

(upto 4G)

Typical Download throughput

declared by TSP (Mbits/s) 5.28 5.00 15.00 15.00

Average Download Throughput

measured during IDT (Mbits/s) 88.67 10.64 46.11 35.19

Note: Plot is based on Dynamic Drive Test results only.

AIRTEL

BSNL

Note: Plot is based on Dynamic Drive Test results only.

VIL

RJIL

(ii) Upload Throughput

Parameter Measured

AIRTEL

(upto 5G)

BSNL

(upto 4G)

RJIL

(upto 5G) VIL

(upto 4G)

Typical upload throughput

declared by TSP (Mbits/s) 3.13 3.00 7.00 8.00

Average Upload Throughput

measured during IDT (Mbits/s) 17.32 3.25 3.83 6.84

Note: Plot is based on Dynamic Drive Test results only.

AIRTEL

BSNL

Note: Plot is based on Dynamic Drive Test results only.

RJIL

VIL