TRAI released Independent Drive Test findings for the Bihar licensed service area covering Samastipur district in January 2026. Tests by the TRAI Regional Office, Kolkata, between 20 January and 23 January covered 272.2 km of city drive, 10 hotspot locations and a 1.9 km walk test to assess mobile network performance across institutional and residential areas. Technologies assessed included 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G.

Voice performance varied by operator. Call setup success rates in auto selection mode were 100.00 per cent for Airtel, 36.89 per cent for BSNL, 99.76 per cent for RJIL and 98.82 per cent for VIL, while drop call rates were 0.00 per cent, 10.04 per cent, 0.24 per cent and 1.67 per cent respectively. Call setup times averaged 1.70 seconds for Airtel, 4.77 for BSNL, 0.65 for RJIL and 1.01 for VIL. Mean Opinion Score values indicated higher perceived speech quality for RJIL and VIL than for BSNL.

Data tests showed overall average download speeds of 101.10 Mbps for Airtel, 12.13 Mbps for BSNL, 158.64 Mbps for RJIL and 27.24 Mbps for VIL, with average upload speeds of 21.39 Mbps, 4.18 Mbps, 18.55 Mbps and 11.98 Mbps respectively. TRAI recorded a maximum average 5G download speed of 158.64 Mbps and maximum average upload speed of 21.39 Mbps in the city drive. Median latency at the 50th percentile was 59.13 ms for Airtel, 52.56 ms for BSNL, 32.38 ms for RJIL and 43.24 ms for VIL.

Poor signal strength in auto selection mode during voice testing was observed on 3.42 per cent of the route for Airtel, 51.32 per cent for BSNL, 2.20 per cent for RJIL and 7.10 per cent for VIL, and during data testing for 16.52 per cent, 37.25 per cent, 13.10 per cent and 11.92 per cent respectively. The assessment covered multiple localities and institutional sites including railway stations, the district court, a government engineering college and the central agriculture university at Pusa. TRAI said testing used suggested equipment and standardised protocols and that the full report is available on the TRAI website.