Private operators RJIL, Airtel, demonstrate superior network performance compared to BSNL in Odisha : Trai study

Bhubaneswar: TRAI Assesses Network Quality AcrossBhubaneswar to RourkelaHighway and extensive city of Rourkela City and their adjoining areas in the State of Odissa (under OD LSA)

Bhubaneswar : The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released its Independent Drive Test (IDT) findings for the Odissa Licensed Service Area (LSA),covering Bhubaneswar to Rourkela Highway and extensive city of Rourkela in the month of August 2025.

According to the findings released by Trai, state owned telecom operator BSNL is lagging behind in call and internet quality from the private players like Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea.

While Airtel, RJIL and VIL have 100.00%, 99.80% and 99.60% call setup success rate respectively in auto-selection mode, BSNL is lagging behind at 87.85%. Similarly, BSNL’s call drop rate is higher at 5.32% as compared to private operators like Airtel, RJIL and VIL with call drop rates at 0.00%, 0.40% and 0.00% respectively.

 

Overall, private telecom players, particularly RJIL and Airtel, demonstrate far superior network performance compared to BSNL, both in download and upload speeds, highlighting the wide digital divide between the public and private sectors in India’s telecom landscape.

BSNL is also lagging behind in Data services with both Data download and upload performances have been found poor as compared to private players. In terms of average download speed, BSNL lags far behind with just 3.90 Mbps, while private operators deliver significantly higher speeds — RJIL leads with 191.10 Mbps, followed by Airtel at 96.48 Mbps, and VIL at 17.73 Mbps. Similarly, in average upload speed, BSNL records only 5.23 Mbps, which is again much lower compared to Airtel (25.57 Mbps), RJIL (18.40 Mbps), and VIL (15.37 Mbps).

Overall, private telecom players, particularly RJIL and Airtel, demonstrate far superior network performance compared to BSNL, both in download and upload speeds, highlighting the wide digital divide between the public and private sectors in India’s telecom landscape.

The drive tests conducted under the supervision of the TRAI Regional Office, Hyderabad, were designed to capture real-world mobile network performance across diverse usage environments- Urban Zones, Institutional Hotspots, rural residential areas etc. Between 19thAugust 2025 to 22thAugust2025, TRAI teams conducted detailed tests for 331.4Km Bhubaneswar to RourkelaHighwayand 355Kms Rourkela City drive test,3.6KmWalk test and 8 Hotspot locations. Technologies evaluated included 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G, reflecting the service experience of users across multiple handset capabilities. The findings of the IDT have been intimated to all the TSPs concerned.