TRAI Drive Tests Reveal Wide Mobile Quality Gaps in Bilaspur and Janjgir
- What: Independent mobile network audit
- Who's affected: Telecom operators and mobile subscribers
- Scope: 346.7 km across Bilaspur and Janjgir
- Top 5G speed: 177.88 Mbps recorded by Jio
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel delivered triple-digit 5G download speeds across Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa, while state-run BSNL and Vodafone Idea struggled with persistent voice coverage blackouts. The findings emerge from an Independent Drive Test conducted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India across 346.7 kilometres of urban transit corridors and commercial hubs.
Data throughput showed sharp operational divides between generations of network deployment. Jio registered the fastest average download throughput at 177.88 Mbps in Bilaspur and 112.13 Mbps in Janjgir-Champa, trailed by Airtel at 128.61 Mbps and 90.93 Mbps. Meanwhile, legacy 4G providers trailed far behind, with Vodafone Idea averaging around 21 Mbps and BSNL struggling near 12 Mbps.
Voice reliability exposed wider structural deficiencies, particularly along highway routes and peripheral blocks. BSNL and Vodafone Idea accounted for the majority of signal dead zones, with BSNL recording poor signal in nearly one-fifth of sample points in Janjgir-Champa alongside 20 extended call-muting incidents in Bilaspur. In contrast, Airtel and Jio kept dropped calls close to zero across hundreds of test calls.
TRAI has issued the performance findings to all four operators to force network fine-tuning and base station densification. For enterprise logistics and mobile consumers along the busy National Highway 49 and industrial clusters in Chhattisgarh, closing these localized coverage blind spots remains crucial to ensuring unbroken digital connectivity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did TRAI's drive test in Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa evaluate?
The audit evaluated real-time Quality of Service across Airtel, BSNL, Jio, and Vodafone Idea, covering signal coverage gaps, call drops, call muting, and data throughput speeds.
Which telecom operator recorded the highest download speeds during the test?
Reliance Jio recorded the highest average 5G download speed at 177.88 Mbps in Bilaspur and 112.13 Mbps in Janjgir-Champa, followed closely by Bharti Airtel.
Which networks showed the highest coverage gaps and voice issues?
BSNL and Vodafone Idea registered the highest number of low-signal samples and call silence incidents, with BSNL also recording seven call drops in Bilaspur.
Source
PIB Press Release No. 2321436, Ministry of Communications (Release ID: 2321436) · 2026-10-09
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