The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India conducted Independent Drive Tests covering Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar cities and nearby areas of Uttar Pradesh (West) licence service area in January 2026. The appointed agency carried out city drive tests over 338.4 km and three point eight km of walk tests between 20 and 23 January 2026 to capture real?world experience across urban zones, hotspots and public transport hubs. The evaluation covered second?generation (2G), third?generation (3G), fourth?generation (4G) and fifth?generation (5G) technologies to reflect diverse handset capabilities and the findings have been intimated to the telecom service providers for further action.

Key parameters for voice assessment included call setup success rate, drop call rate, call setup time, call silence rate and speech quality measured as mean opinion score together with coverage. Data services were assessed for download and upload throughput, latency, jitter, packet drop rate and video streaming delay. The tests used TRAI calibrated equipment and standardised protocols in real?time environments and the authority indicated that the detailed report is available on the TRAI website.

In auto?selection mode covering 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G voice testing, Airtel recorded a call setup success rate of 99.71 per cent, BSNL 80.56 per cent, RJIL 99.85 per cent and VIL 89.06 per cent. Drop call rates were reported as zero point zero zero per cent for Airtel, one point two one per cent for BSNL, zero point five nine per cent for RJIL and zero point four seven per cent for VIL. Poor signal strength during voice testing on the city route was observed as zero point four two per cent for Airtel, 17.51 per cent for BSNL, zero point three two per cent for RJIL and zero point six eight per cent for VIL.

During data testing in auto?selection mode, poor signal strength on the city route was four point five zero per cent for Airtel, 29.08 per cent for BSNL, two point nine seven per cent for RJIL and two point seven six per cent for VIL. The authority advised that the findings have been communicated to the concerned operators for remedial measures and further necessary action. For clarification, the regional advisor in Bhopal may be contacted through the channels indicated in the detailed report.