New Delhi: Airtel and Reliance Jio emerged as the top performers on key voice and data quality parameters in Delhi, according to independent drive test (IDT) results released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for December 2025.
The regulator conducted extensive tests across the Delhi licensed service area between December 15 and December 18, covering 347 km of city routes, 12 hotspot locations and walk tests in high-footfall markets such as Connaught Place and Chandni Chowk. The assessment covered 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G technologies to capture real-world user experience across networks.
On voice services, Airtel recorded a 100% call setup success rate (CSSR), while Jio posted 98.36% and Vodafone Idea (Vi) 99.64% in auto-selection mode. MTNL lagged with a CSSR of 95.23%. Drop call rates remained low for Airtel (0.12%) and Jio (0.36%), while Vi reported zero drop calls. MTNL, however, recorded a significantly higher drop call rate of 6.6%.
Call setup times also highlighted network differences, with Jio and Vi achieving sub-second setup times of 0.59 seconds and 0.58 seconds, respectively, compared with Airtel’s 0.76 seconds and MTNL’s 3.27 seconds. In terms of voice quality, measured through Mean Opinion Score (MOS), Jio and Vi led with an average score of 4.44, followed by Airtel at 3.98, while MTNL trailed at 2.75.
Data performance underscored the widening gap between private operators and the state-run telco. Jio delivered the highest average download speeds at 265.51 Mbps on 5G/4G, followed by Airtel at 168.92 Mbps. Vodafone Idea’s average download speed stood at 34.35 Mbps, while MTNL’s 3G-only network clocked just 4.40 Mbps.
Upload speeds showed a similar trend, with Airtel and Vi recording over 22 Mbps, Jio at 22.33 Mbps and MTNL at 1.19 Mbps. Latency across Airtel, Jio and Vi hovered around 20–21 milliseconds, indicating comparable performance on responsiveness, TRAI said.
At hotspot locations, Jio’s 5G network delivered peak download speeds of over 293 Mbps, significantly ahead of Airtel’s 149 Mbps and Vi’s 41 Mbps. MTNL did not register any 4G or 5G performance during the tests.
TRAI said the findings have been shared with all telecom service providers and will be used to monitor quality of service compliance. The regulator added that such independent assessments help ensure transparency and improve consumer experience in high-density urban markets like Delhi