TRAI assesses mobile network quality across Shimla & Solan and - 14th August 2026 - Ministry of Communications - Gazette Notification PDF
Issued by Ministry of Communications
Read or download the official PDF of this gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Communications on 14th August 2026. Classified under Press Release.
Executive Summary & Key Takeaways
Executive Summary The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released the findings of an Independent Drive Test (IDT) conducted from June 15 to June 19, 2026, to assess mobile network quality in Shimla, Solan, and surrounding areas. The report evaluates voice and data performance across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks to inform consumers and prompt service improvements. Findings have been shared with Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for necessary corrective actions.
Key Points / Main Content
Methodology and Scope
- Test Areas: Assessments covered 35.9 km of highways, 384.8 km of city roads, 12 hotspots, and 4.9 km of walk tests in crowded areas like Mall Road and Shimla Railway Station.
- Technology: Real-time monitoring of all TSPs was conducted using advanced software and handsets across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G technologies.
- Purpose: To verify Quality of Service (QoS) parameters including coverage, call success rates, and data throughput in diverse environments.
Key Performance Parameters
- Coverage Gap: Identifies areas where signal strength falls below the minimum prescribed threshold.
- Voice Quality: Measured via Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), Drop Call Rate (DCR), and Call Silence Instances (silence exceeding 3 seconds).
- Data Performance: Evaluated through average download/upload throughput, latency, jitter, and packet drop rates.
Regional Performance Findings
- Shimla Route: RJIL (5G) recorded the highest average download speed (163.01 Mbps), while BSNL (4G) and VIL (4G) recorded the lowest speeds (approx. 10–11 Mbps).
- Solan Route: Data speeds were notably higher, with RJIL (5G) reaching 208.71 Mbps and Airtel (5G) reaching 170.17 Mbps.
- Highway (Solan to Shimla): Significant coverage gaps were noted, particularly for BSNL (575 poor samples) and VIL (605 poor samples) out of their respective total samples.
- Call Drops: Dropped call instances were highest for BSNL across most tested routes compared to other providers.
Impact Analysis
Telecom Service Providers (Airtel, BSNL, RJIL, VIL)
- Impact: Providers are held accountable for network deficiencies, including coverage gaps and high drop call rates identified during the tests.
- Action Required: TSPs must review the specific findings shared by TRAI and take necessary remedial actions to improve service quality in the HP LSA.
General Telecom Consumers
- Impact: Consumers receive transparent, on-ground performance data regarding the voice and data quality of different TSPs in their locality.
- Action Required: Consumers are encouraged to use these reports to make informed choices about their service providers.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
- Impact: The agency acts as a facilitator for transparency and service benchmarking in the telecom sector.
- Action Required: TRAI will continue to publish detailed IDT reports on its official website and provide clarifications through its Regional Office in Delhi.
Key Entities Referenced
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI): The primary regulatory body that conducted and released the findings of the Independent Drive Test to assess mobile network quality.
Independent Drive Test (IDT): An initiative conducted to assess and verify the real-time quality of voice and data services provided by telecom operators.
Himachal Pradesh Licensed Service Area (HP LSA): The specific geographical region, including Shimla, Solan, and nearby areas, where the network quality assessment was carried out.
Telecom Service Providers (TSPs): The mobile network operators (including Airtel, BSNL, RJIL, and VIL) whose service performance was evaluated against quality standards.
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Ministry of Communications
TRAI assesses mobile network quality across
Shimla & Solan and nearby areas under HP LSA,
during the month of June 2026
प्रव तथ: 14 AUG 2026 1:52PM by PIB Delhi
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released findings of Independent Drive Test
(IDT) conducted across Shimla & Solan and nearby areas Route under HP LSA, during the month of
June 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.
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 analyzed in real-time using advanced Software Systems.
TRAI, through its appointed agency, conducted drive tests across Highway Drive – 35.9 Km, City
drive – 384.8 Km, Hotspot locations - 12, Walk Test - 4.9 Km and Inter Operator Calling at 01
location during 15th June 2026 to 19th June 2026 in HP LSA. These tests were conducted under the
supervision of the TRAI Regional Office Delhi. 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.
Drive test routes: The following map provides overview of drive test routes indicating Highway Drive,
City drive, Hotspots, Walk tests & Inter-operator calling, as per the legends shown on the map: -Figure-1: Drive test routes
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 instances occurred during the calls.
(d) Data Services: Download / Upload Throughput, Latency, Jitter, Packet Drop Rate.
The overall mobile network performance in Shimla and nearby areas route for the key parameters
has been summarized below: -
a. Coverage Gap - The signal strength observed during voice testing on the 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 3553/45850 for
Airtel, 7735/43507 for BSNL, 2118/45696 for RJIL and 10778/43236 for VIL. Details
of the coverage gaps have been provided in the map of Annexure-I.
b. Dropped Calls - Dropped calls in auto-selection mode (5G/ 4G/ 3G/ 2G), measured as
the number of dropped calls out of the number of successfully established calls, were
1/411 for Airtel, 47/389 for BSNL, 1/418 for RJIL and 20/387 for VIL. Details of the
dropped call locations have been provided in the map of Annexure-I.
c. Call Silence Instance - Call silence instances in Auto-selection mode (5G/4G),
measured as the total number of silence instances observed for > 3 seconds out of thetotal calls established, were 35/396 for Airtel, 50/326 for BSNL, 11/400 for RJIL and
41/359 for VIL. Details of the call silence instance locations have been provided in the
map of Annexure-I.
d. Data Download and Upload Throughput:
i. Data Download performance (Overall): Average download speed was observed
as 83.09 Mbps for Airtel (5G), 10.99 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 163.01 Mbps for
RJIL (5G) and 10.30 Mbps for VIL (4G). Detail of Download throughput has
been provided in the map of Annexure-I.
ii. Data Upload performance (Overall): Average upload speed was observed as
13.90 Mbps for Airtel (5G), 4.81 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 15.43 Mbps for RJIL
(5G) and 3.32 Mbps for VIL (4G). Details of Upload throughput have been
provided in the map of Annexure-I.
Locations of Dropped Calls and Call Silence instances can be seen by clicking red dot on the map of
Annexure-I.
The overall mobile network performance in Solan and nearby areas route for the key parameters has
been summarized below: -
a. Coverage Gap - The signal strength observed during voice testing on the 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 493/12912 for Airtel, 712/12833 for BSNL,
508/12713 for RJIL and 1191/12908 for VIL. Details of the coverage gaps have been
provided in the map of Annexure-II.
b. Dropped Calls - Dropped calls in auto-selection mode (5G/ 4G/ 3G/ 2G), measured as the
number of dropped calls out of the number of successfully established calls, were 3/118 for
Airtel, 11/119 for BSNL, 6/117 for RJIL and 5/118 for VIL. Details of the dropped call
locations have been provided in the map of Annexure-II.
c. Call Silence Instance - Call silence instances in Auto-selection mode (5G/4G), measured as
the total number of silence instances observed for > 3 seconds out of the total calls
established, were 11/109 for Airtel, 15/99 for BSNL, 12/111 for RJIL and 7/107 for VIL.
Details of the call silence instance locations have been provided in the map of Annexure-II.
d. Data Download and Upload Throughput:
i) Data Download performance (Overall): Average download speed was
observed as 170.17 Mbps for Airtel (5G), 11.99 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 208.71
Mbps for RJIL (5G) and 8.77 Mbps for VIL (4G). Detail of Download throughput
has been provided in the map of Annexure-II.
ii) Data Upload performance (Overall): Average upload speed was observed as
26.31 Mbps for Airtel (5G), 6.35 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 26.55 Mbps for RJIL
(5G) and 6.38 Mbps for VIL (4G). Details of Upload throughput have been
provided in the map of Annexure-II.
Locations of Dropped Calls and Call Silence instances can be seen by clicking red dot on the map of
Annexure-II.
The overall mobile network performance in Highway route from Solan to Shimla for the key
parameters has been summarized below: -
a. Coverage Gap - The signal strength observed during voice testing on the 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 97/4403 for Airtel, 575/4086 for BSNL,38/4406 for RJIL and 605/4238 for VIL. Details of the coverage gaps have been provided in
the map of Annexure-III.
b. Dropped Calls - Dropped calls in auto-selection mode (5G/ 4G/ 3G/ 2G), measured as the
number of dropped calls out of the number of successfully established calls, were 1/22 for
Airtel, 8/22 for BSNL, 0/22 for RJIL and 0/21 for VIL. Details of the dropped call locations
have been provided in the map of Annexure-III.
c. Call Silence Instance - Call silence instances in Auto-selection mode (5G/4G), measured as
the total number of silence instances observed for > 3 seconds out of the total calls
established, were 3/21 for Airtel, 7/25 for BSNL, 0/21 for RJIL and 1/23 for VIL. Details of
the call silence instance locations have been provided in the map of Annexure-III.
d. Data Download and Upload Throughput:
i) Data Download performance (Overall): Average download speed was
observed as 81.98 Mbps for Airtel (5G), 11.20 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 126.64
Mbps for RJIL (5G) and 9.13 Mbps for VIL (4G). Detail of Download throughput
has been provided in the map of Annexure-III.
ii) Data Upload performance (Overall): Average upload speed was observed
as 13.73 Mbps for Airtel (5G), 4.31 Mbps for BSNL (4G), 14.87 Mbps for
RJIL (5G) and 4.88 Mbps for VIL (4G). Details of Upload throughput have
been provided in the map of Annexure-III.
Locations of Dropped Calls and Call Silence instances can be seen by clicking red dot on the map of
Annexure-III.
Details of drive test route and area covered during the IDT are as below: -
a. City - The areas covered in the city drive are Bijli, Panthaghati, Rajana, Junga, Sadhupul,
Chail, Koti, Kufri, Sanjauli, New Shimla, Boileauganj, Bhutwa, Okru, Thog, Chaba,
Basantpur, Datyar, Mashobra, Fagu, Theog, Chundi, Shillaru and Narkanda etc. under Shimla
and nearby areas & Sector 6, Sector 3, Tipra, Kalka, Parwanoo, Taksal, Jangeshu waterfall,
Garkhal, Dharampur, Deoghat, Chambaghat, Kotla Nala and Sumti etc.under Solan and
nearby areas.
b. Highway - The area covered in the Highway route are Solan to Shimla via Chamabghat,
Salogra, Kandaghat, Majhol, Kashmari, Tara Devi and Boileauganj etc.
c. Hotspot - The hotspot locations, capturing stationary user experience are Civil Hospital
Chail, DAV School Shimla, District Court Shimla, District Court Solan, ESI Hospital
Parwanoo, High Court Shimla, HP University Shimla, IGMC and Hospital Shimla, ISBT
Shimla, ISBT Solan, Shri Sankat Mochan Hanuman Mandir Shimla & University Institute of
Information Technology Shimla.
d. Walk Test - The walk test conducted on 18th Jun 2026 & 19th Jun 2026, covered Mall Road
Shimla and Shimla Railway Station capturing mobile network behaviours in crowded
pedestrian environments.
The findings of this IDT report have been shared with respective TSPs for taking further necessary
action at their end. Detailed reports of IDT are made available on the TRAI website at www.trai.gov.
in. For any clarification or additional information, an email can be sent to adv.ca@trai.gov or
Regional Office of TRAI at Delhi RO can be contacted on telephone No. +91-11-20907772.
Click here to see Annexure***
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