New Delhi, 29 June (H.S.): The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has assessed the quality of mobile network services on the Jodhpur-Ahmedabad railway route connecting Rajasthan and Gujarat. The independent drive test, conducted in May, found Reliance Jio to have delivered the best overall performance in terms of network coverage and data download speeds.

According to TRAI, the independent drive test was carried out on May 4 across the 456.9-kilometre railway stretch between Jodhpur and Ahmedabad. The exercise was aimed at evaluating the real-time network performance of major telecom service providers. Voice and data services on the 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks of Airtel, BSNL, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi) were assessed during the survey.

The report stated that Reliance Jio recorded the strongest network coverage among all operators. Out of 26,136 signal samples collected on Jio's network, only 685 locations registered weak signal strength. Airtel recorded weak signals at 1,843 locations out of 26,319 samples. Vodafone Idea reported 5,150 weak signal locations from 25,817 samples, while BSNL recorded the poorest performance, with 7,368 weak signal locations out of 23,625 samples. BSNL also performed the worst in terms of limited or no network coverage, with services unavailable at 1,271 locations.

In the voice service assessment, Airtel and Reliance Jio delivered the best performance, recording zero call drops during the test. BSNL registered 15 dropped calls out of 122 successful call attempts, while Vodafone Idea recorded four call drops out of 126 successful calls.

Reliance Jio also emerged as the leader in average download speed, registering 89.61 Mbps. Airtel followed with an average download speed of 48.53 Mbps. Vodafone Idea recorded 12.71 Mbps, while BSNL posted the lowest average download speed at 7.95 Mbps.

In terms of upload speed, Airtel ranked first with an average of 11.69 Mbps. Reliance Jio recorded an average upload speed of 9.06 Mbps, followed by Vodafone Idea at 8.81 Mbps. BSNL once again ranked last with an average upload speed of 3.76 Mbps.

TRAI said the drive test covered multiple stations and railway sections, including Jodhpur, Bhagat Ki Kothi, Luni Junction, Samdari, Jalore, Bhinmal, Raniwara, Dhanera, Bhildi, Patan and Mahesana Junction. The assessment measured key quality parameters such as call setup success rate, call drop rate, signal coverage, download and upload speeds, latency, jitter and packet drop.

The telecom regulator said the findings have been shared with the respective telecom service providers to enable them to take the necessary corrective measures and improve network performance along the route.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar