The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released findings from its Independent Drive Test for the Mumbai Licensed Service Area (LSA) covering real?world mobile network performance during January 2026. The TRAI regional office in Bengaluru supervised tests across 214.8 km of routes, including 201.7 km of city driving, seven hotspots, a 3.7 km walk test and a 9.4 km coastal drive. Technologies evaluated comprised second generation, third generation, fourth generation and fifth generation cellular networks to reflect user experience across handset capabilities.

Key parameters assessed for voice included Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), Drop Call Rate (DCR), Call Setup Time, Call Silence Rate and Mean Opinion Score (MOS) for speech quality, together with coverage. Data service parameters included download and upload throughput, latency, jitter, packet drop rate and video streaming delay. These measures were gathered across urban zones, institutional hotspots, public transport hubs and high?speed corridors to capture varied network behaviour.

The findings were intimated to all Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for further action. In automatic selection mode across generations, Airtel, MTNL, RJIL and VIL recorded CSSR of 100 per cent, 20.77 per cent, 100 per cent and 100 per cent respectively. The corresponding DCR figures were 0.00 per cent, 45.34 per cent, 0.63 per cent and 0.00 per cent. Poor signal strength on the city route during voice testing was observed in 0.32 per cent, 71.31 per cent, 0.22 per cent and 0.33 per cent respectively.

During data testing the proportion of poor signal strength on the city route was 2.00 per cent, 71.43 per cent, 1.84 per cent and 1.26 per cent for the four operators, and on the coastal route it was 2.00 per cent, 96.71 per cent, 2.34 per cent and 0.80 per cent respectively. Walk tests focused on Airoli Railway Station, Kopar Khairane Railway Station and Rabale Railway Station and the coastal drive covered Atal Setu to Belapur Jetty. The tests used TRAI calibrated equipment and standardised protocols in real?time environments and the detailed report was made available on the TRAI website for stakeholders.