Ahmedabad: Rail passengers travelling between Jodhpur and Ahmedabad can expect the fastest mobile internet speeds on Reliance Jio’s network, while BSNL users are more likely to encounter weak signals and dropped calls, according to an independent network assessment by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The regulator recently released the findings of the drive test conducted on the 456.9-km rail corridor.The assessment, carried out on May 4, covered the Rajasthan and Gujarat licensed service areas from Bhagat ki Kothi in Jodhpur to Ahmedabad. The findings provide a snapshot of the quality of mobile services available to passengers on one of the key rail links connecting the two states.Among the four telecom operators, Jio recorded the highest average download speed at 89.61Mbps, nearly double Airtel’s 48.53Mbps. Vodafone Idea averaged 12.71 Mbps, while BSNL recorded 7.95 Mbps. Airtel led upload performance with an average speed of 11.69 Mbps, followed by Jio (9.06 Mbps), Vodafone Idea (8.81 Mbps) and BSNL (3.76 Mbps). TRAI noted that all operators exceeded the typical download and upload speeds they had declared for the technologies tested.The regulator also found wide variations in network coverage along the route. BSNL recorded the highest number of poor-signal samples at 7,368, along with 1,271 instances where there was no network coverage at all. Vodafone Idea logged 5,150 poor-signal samples, compared with 1,843 for Airtel and 685 for Jio. Jio did not record a single no-coverage sample during the drive test, while Airtel and Vodafone Idea recorded 11 and 10, respectively.Voice service performance mirrored the coverage results. Airtel and Jio completed all successfully connected test calls without a single drop. BSNL recorded 15 dropped calls out of 122 successfully established calls, while Vodafone Idea recorded four dropped calls out of 126 successful calls.TRAI carried out the assessment using SIM cards of all four operators across available 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks. It evaluated coverage, call setup success, call drops, speech quality, download and upload speeds, latency and packet loss to independently verify the quality of services experienced by consumers.TRAI said the findings have been shared with telecom operators to help them address network deficiencies and improve services.
