TRAI Assesses Mobile Network Quality across South Andaman district and Coastal Drive Test from Port Blair to Havelock in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands under West Bengal LSA, during the month of August 2026

Drive Test Route Map: The following map provides overview of drive test routes indicating City drive, Inter-operator calling, Hotspots and Walk tests, Coastal as per the legends shown on the map: –

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released findings of Independent Drive Test (IDT) conducted across South Andaman district and Coastal Drive Test from Port Blair to Havelock in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands under West Bengal LSA, during the month of August 2026, for information of general telecom consumers. The purpose of this drive test is to assess and verify real time quality of mobile network services (both voice & data) provided by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). During the IDT, TRAI captures performance of TSPs for key Quality of Service (QoS) parameters like Coverage, Call Drop Rate (CDR), Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), data Download (DL) and Upload (UL) throughput etc., which are then published to inform Consumers and encourage TSPs to improve their services.

These IDTs have been designed to capture on ground mobile network performance of all TSPs across diverse usages environment like cities, hotspots, public transport hubs, etc. In this type of drive testing, live data and voice sessions are established using SIM cards from all TSPs over 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks. Multiple advanced test handsets are used, and the sessions are monitored and analysed in real-time using advanced Software Systems.

TRAI, through its appointed agency, conducted drive tests across City drive – 259.8 KMs, Hotspot locations – 10, Walk Test – 1.1 KMs, Coastal – 52.8 KMs in West Bengal LSA during 17^th August 2026 to 21^st August 2026 in West Bengal LSA. These tests were conducted under the supervision of the TRAI Regional Office Kolkata. The observations presented in drive test reports represent the performance of the TSPs on the area/ route under test on the day/ time of conducting the drive test.

Key Parameters Assessed

1. Coverage Gap: Percentage of samples, for which signal strength observed less than the minimum prescribed signal strength for respective technology (2G/ 3G/ 4G/ 5G).
2. Voice Services: Call Setup Success Rate (CSSR), Drop Call Rate (DCR), Call Setup Time, Call Silence Rate, Speech Quality (MOS).
3. Call Silence Instance: Number of call silence instance occurred during the calls.
4. Data Services: Download/ Upload Throughput, Latency, Jitter, Packet Drop Rate

The overall mobile network performance in South Andaman district and coastal route from Port Blair to Havelock in the Union Territory (UT) of Andaman and Nicobar Islan under West Bengal LSA for the key parameters has been summarised below: –

a)    Coverage Gap – The signal strength observed during voice testing on the city drive test route in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G), measured as the number of samples having poor signal strength out of the total samples collected, was 4734 / 37333 for Airtel, 9228 /37623 for BSNL, 5123/ 38739 for RJIL and 15927 / 36434 for VIL. Details of the coverage gaps have been provided in the map Annexed.

b)    Dropped Calls – Dropped calls, measured as the number of dropped calls out of the number of successfully established calls, were 5/ 266 for Airtel, 38/ 268 for BSNL, 9/ 285 for RJIL and 8/ 262 for VIL. Details of the dropped call locations have been provided in the map Annexed.

c)    Call Silence Instance – Call silence instances, measured as the total number of silence instances observed for > 3 seconds out of the total calls established, were 23/ 264 for Airtel, 30/ 265 for BSNL, 33/ 264 for RJIL and 13/ 143 for VIL. Details of the call silence instance locations have been provided in the map Annexed.

d)    Data Download and Upload Throughput:

i)  Data Download performance (Overall): Average download speed was observed as 67.06 Mbps for Airtel (5G/4G), 7.18 Mbps for BSNL (4G/2G), 77.61 Mbps for RJIL (5G/4G) and 26.54 Mbps for VIL (4G/2G). Detail of Download throughput has been provided in the map Annexed.

ii) Data Upload performance (Overall): Average upload speed was observed as 18.01 Mbps for Airtel (5G/4G), 6.13 Mbps for BSNL (4G/ 2G), 20.28 Mbps for RJIL (5G/4G) and 10.84 Mbps for VIL (4G/2G). Detail of Upload throughput has been provided in the map Annexed.

Locations of Dropped Calls and Call Silence instances can be seen by clicking red dot on the map Annexed.

Details of drive test route and area covered during the IDT is as under: –

a)      City – The areas covered in the city drive are (i) South Andaman, (ii) Beach Dera, (iii) Ferrargunj,(iv)  Tirur,  (v) Mala Puram, (vi) Wimberlygunj, (vii) Puram, (viii)  Viper Island RV,  (ix) Chidiya Tapu Beach..

2.    Hotspot – The hot spot locations, capturing stationary user experience, are (i) Carvin Cove Beach , (ii) Cellur Jail, (iii) Chidiyatapu Sunset Point – Sri Vijaya Puram, (iv) Haddo Jetty – Chatham Jetty Haddo – Sri Vijaya Puram, (v) Havelock Jetty (vi) Head Post Office Port Blair – Aberdeen Bazar Shadipur – Sri Vijaya Puram, (vii) Jirkatang Check Post, (viii) NSCB Island Jetty – Ross Island Rd, (ix) Phoenix Bay Jetty – Sri Vijaya Puram, (x) Pondicherry University Port Blair Campus – Chakargaon Junglighat – Sri Vijaya Puram
3.   Walk Test – The walk tests conducted during 19^th August 2026, are (i) G. B. Pant Hospital – Atlanta Point – Sri Vijaya Puram, (ii) High Court and DC Office – Sri Vijaya Puram.

d)  Coastal – (i) Port Blair (Sri Vijaya Puram) to Havelock (Swaraj Dweep).

The findings of this IDT report have been shared with respective TSPs for taking further necessary action at their end. Detailed reports of IDT are made available on the TRAI website at www.trai.gov.in. For any clarification or additional information, an email can be sent to adv.kolkata@trai.gov.in or Regional Office of TRAI at Kolkata RO can be contacted on telephone no.  +91-33-22361401.