The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released its Independent Drive Test (IDT) results for Vijayanagara District in the Karnataka LSA on 26 October 2026, and the numbers split the four operators into clearly different camps. RJIL posted the fastest average download at 151.30 Mbps. BSNL recorded the weakest, at 10.47 Mbps, along with 18,287 poor-signal samples out of 48,469 and 37 dropped calls against 425 established calls.
Testing ran in August 2026 across Vijayanagara, Hosapete & Hampi, and Banavikallu. The regulator named four operators in the report: Airtel, BSNL, RJIL, and VIL. For anyone who follows radio hardware and network validation (we covered the orbital version of that work in our piece on KTL and Keysight taking 2G-to-5G testing to orbit), a drive test is the closest thing to an honest scoreboard. It measures what a handset sees on the road, not what a coverage map promises.
This analysis walks through every figure TRAI published for the district, compares the operators metric by metric, and flags what the data cannot tell us. Aggregators such as Worldnews.com carried the TRAI notice on 26 October, though its page only points back to the original document. We worked from the figures in the regulator’s report and kept our claims inside them.
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TRAI Vijayanagara Drive Test: The Headline Numbers
The TRAI Vijayanagara drive test produced four sets of comparable figures: poor-signal samples, dropped calls, average overall download speed, and average overall upload speed. Each operator has a number in every category, which makes the report easy to read and easy to over-read.
Start with the speeds. RJIL averaged 151.30 Mbps down and 14.00 Mbps up. Airtel averaged 87.50 Mbps down and 20.69 Mbps up. VIL landed at 22.09 Mbps down and 10.77 Mbps up. BSNL closed the field at 10.47 Mbps down and 5.41 Mbps up.
Coverage and call reliability follow the same broad pattern, with one wrinkle. Airtel and RJIL sit close together on both measures, VIL sits in the middle, and BSNL trails by a wide margin. The wrinkle is upload speed, where Airtel beats RJIL by about 6.7 Mbps even though RJIL leads on download by roughly 64 Mbps.
TRAI did not name a winner, and the figures we hold do not carry an official ranking or a stated cause for any gap. Everything below that goes beyond the raw numbers is our own reading and is labelled that way.
What the Independent Drive Test Actually Measures
An Independent Drive Test is a field measurement. TRAI measures what each operator’s network delivers in a defined area, on the ground, instead of relying on figures the operators supply. The regulator keeps these assessments on its page for QoS assessment through field measurements and drive tests, which is where the Vijayanagara release is listed.
The Vijayanagara assessment covers voice and data quality across the district and lists three location groups: Vijayanagara, Hosapete & Hampi, and Banavikallu. The list pairs a heritage site with town and highway-side locations, so the sample mixes visitor areas with everyday ground.
The word independent matters. Operators publish their own coverage claims and network statistics, and those figures come from systems the operators control. A regulator-run drive test uses the same method against every network on the same roads in the same month. That makes cross-operator comparison fair in a way no marketing page can match.
Coverage Gaps: Poor-Signal Samples by Operator
TRAI reports coverage as the count of poor-signal samples against total samples. We converted each pair into a percentage so the operators can be compared on one scale. The sample totals differ by operator, which is why the share matters more than the raw count.
| Operator | Poor-signal samples | Total samples | Poor-signal share (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airtel | 3,067 | 52,309 | 5.86% |
| BSNL | 18,287 | 48,469 | 37.73% |
| RJIL | 2,750 | 52,578 | 5.23% |
| VIL | 8,930 | 51,328 | 17.40% |
Roughly 38 of every 100 BSNL samples fell into the poor-signal bucket. That is about 7.2 times RJIL’s share and about 6.4 times Airtel’s. VIL’s 17.40% is roughly three times the Airtel and RJIL levels, which puts it between the two clusters rather than near either one.
Airtel and RJIL differ by only 0.63 percentage points. That gap is small enough that we would not call either network better on coverage alone. The report gives us no stated threshold for what counts as poor signal, so treat the percentages as a relative measure.
Dropped Calls: BSNL’s 37 Against Airtel’s 1
Voice reliability shows the sharpest contrast in the whole report. TRAI lists dropped calls against successfully established calls, and the spread runs from a single drop on Airtel to 37 on BSNL.
| Operator | Dropped calls | Established calls | Drop rate (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airtel | 1 | 471 | 0.21% |
| BSNL | 37 | 425 | 8.71% |
| RJIL | 2 | 478 | 0.42% |
| VIL | 8 | 467 | 1.71% |
Why the Call Counts Need Care
Each operator had between 425 and 478 established calls in the sample, so the four networks total 1,841 calls. A sample that size can show a large gap clearly, and BSNL’s 8.71% drop rate is a large gap. It cannot separate Airtel’s 1 drop from RJIL’s 2 in any meaningful way. One call either way flips the order.
How VIL Compares
VIL’s 8 drops out of 467 calls sit well above the two leaders and well below BSNL. That placement matches its middle position on coverage, which suggests the two measures move together in this district. We cannot prove the link from the published numbers, only note that the pattern repeats across all four operators.
Download Speeds: RJIL Leads at 151.30 Mbps
Download speed produced the widest spread of any metric. RJIL’s 151.30 Mbps is 14.4 times BSNL’s 10.47 Mbps and 6.8 times VIL’s 22.09 Mbps. Airtel’s 87.50 Mbps sits at roughly 58% of RJIL’s figure.
Those gaps matter in everyday use. A 10.47 Mbps average handles messaging, maps, and standard-definition video without much trouble. It struggles with large app updates, HD streaming at peak load, and cloud backups. A 150 Mbps average removes those limits for nearly any phone workload.
One more caution applies. The report gives an average overall speed per operator, not a distribution. An average of 87.50 Mbps can hide wide swings between a strong 5G stretch and a weak 4G one. Users in Hampi’s older quarters may see something quite different from users on the Hosapete highway approach.
Upload Speeds: Airtel Edges Ahead of RJIL
Upload tells a different story from download. Airtel averaged 20.69 Mbps, RJIL 14.00 Mbps, VIL 10.77 Mbps, and BSNL 5.41 Mbps. Airtel’s upload is 3.8 times BSNL’s and about 1.5 times RJIL’s.
The balance between the two directions varies a lot. RJIL downloads about 10.8 times faster than it uploads. Airtel’s ratio is about 4.2. BSNL and VIL both sit near 2. Our reading is that Airtel’s network treats uplink more generously in this district, but the report does not explain the reason, and we will not guess at it.
Uplink matters for video calls, live streaming, photo backup, and anything that sends data from a phone. For a tourist town such as Hampi, where visitors upload photos and video all day, a strong uplink is a practical advantage even when the headline download number belongs to someone else.
Speed and Technology Labels Side by Side
TRAI lists the network technologies each operator’s speed was recorded on. That detail turns a speed table into something more useful.
| Operator | Avg. download (Mbps) | Avg. upload (Mbps) | Technologies listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airtel | 87.50 | 20.69 | 5G/4G |
| BSNL | 10.47 | 5.41 | 4G |
| RJIL | 151.30 | 14.00 | 5G/4G |
| VIL | 22.09 | 10.77 | 5G/4G/2G |
Airtel and RJIL, the two fastest networks, both list 5G alongside 4G, and so does VIL. BSNL lists 4G alone and posts the slowest speeds. VIL lists 5G, 4G, and 2G, which suggests some measurements were recorded on a 2G connection. Time on 2G would drag an average down.
The pattern is suggestive. It is also incomplete, since the report as we have it does not say how much of each operator’s testing happened on each technology. We can say BSNL, the only 4G-only network, sits at the bottom of the speed table. We cannot say technology alone explains the order, since VIL lists 5G and still trails Airtel and RJIL by a wide margin.
Reading the Numbers: Sample Size and Limits
Drive tests are snapshots. The August 2026 run records how each network behaved on selected routes in one month, and the results reached the public in late October. Network upgrades, new towers, and spectrum changes since August do not appear in the figures.
Sample counts also differ. Poor-signal totals run from 48,469 for BSNL to 52,578 for RJIL, and the four operators together account for 204,684 samples. The spread is modest, but BSNL’s lower total means its count of non-poor samples stands at 30,182, against 49,242 for Airtel and 49,828 for RJIL. The report as we have it does not explain why BSNL logged fewer samples.
Finally, a district report cannot speak for a state or the country. Vijayanagara’s results say nothing certain about Bengaluru, Mysuru, or any other Karnataka district. Readers who treat one district as a national verdict on an operator are making a mistake the data does not support.
Historical Context: TRAI’s Field-Testing Program
Drive tests give the regulator a way to check quality claims against its own measurements. The Vijayanagara assessment is one entry in that stream of reports, and the regulator posts them on its performance reports page for any citizen to read.
The logic behind drive tests has a clear lineage in network engineering. Operators have long measured their own networks, and users have long complained about call drops and slow data. A third party that tests all networks with one method closes the gap between those two worlds. Our reporting on the global side of this, including Globe’s tower permit delays in the Philippines, shows the same tension. Coverage improves only when someone can see where it is weak and builds hardware to fix it.
Because the program tests many places, a single district’s results gain meaning only when put next to others. We did not compare Vijayanagara with earlier reports here, since we hold no verified figures for them.
Competitive Comparison: Where Each Operator Stands
Putting all four metrics in one view shows how different the operators look depending on what you value. The table below lists the best and worst reported figure for each measure, taken directly from the report.
| Metric | Best reported figure | Weakest reported figure | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poor-signal share | RJIL, 5.23% | BSNL, 37.73% | 32.5 points |
| Dropped-call rate | Airtel, 0.21% | BSNL, 8.71% | About 41 times |
| Avg. download | RJIL, 151.30 Mbps | BSNL, 10.47 Mbps | About 14.4 times |
| Avg. upload | Airtel, 20.69 Mbps | BSNL, 5.41 Mbps | About 3.8 times |
RJIL and Airtel trade the top spot depending on the metric. VIL never leads and never finishes last, so it reads as a mid-table network in this district. BSNL finishes last on all four measures. That consistency is the cleanest takeaway in the report, because it holds up even after allowing for small sample effects.
Market Impact for Operators and Network Hardware
A public regulator report that shows one operator with a 37.73% poor-signal share gives that operator’s rivals a sharp talking point, and it pressures the operator to respond with investment.
The hardware angle is direct. Closing a coverage gap means more sites, upgraded radios, better backhaul, or denser small cells. The same fight over spectrum and infrastructure plays out in the US, where we tracked carriers defending their spectrum against a SpaceX request and the carrier opposition to the FCC’s 482 MHz Starlink mobile plan. In both markets, measured network quality sits underneath the lobbying.
We have no confirmed information about any operator’s spending plans for Vijayanagara. Anyone who claims specific rollout dates in response to this report is going beyond what the record shows. For more on the equipment side of the industry, see our hardware coverage.
What Users in Hosapete and Hampi Can Do Now
Subscribers do not have to wait for an operator announcement. A few practical steps follow from the data.
- Check which technology your SIM uses in your area, and confirm your handset supports the 5G bands your operator lists.
- Run your own speed tests at home and at work at different times, then compare them with the district averages above.
- Keep a secondary connection if you depend on voice calls, particularly if you use an operator with a high dropped-call rate.
- Report persistent problems to your operator’s complaint channel and keep the reference number.
- Read the full TRAI report on the regulator’s site before judging an operator, since district averages can hide local variation.
Fiber is the other option for fixed internet. Countries that push last-mile fiber into small towns often take pressure off mobile networks, as in Kanturk’s NBP fibre rollout in Cork. We have no confirmed fiber plans for Vijayanagara, so this is a general point and not a forecast for the district.
Five Predictions From the Vijayanagara Data
These are our own expectations, drawn from the numbers above. None come from TRAI or any operator.
- BSNL will face the most scrutiny. Finishing last on all four metrics, with 37 dropped calls in 425, makes it the natural focus of local complaints and press coverage.
- RJIL and Airtel will each cite this report. RJIL will point to 151.30 Mbps and Airtel to 0.21% call drops and 20.69 Mbps uplink. Both claims will be accurate and both will be selective.
- VIL’s mixed technology label will draw questions. The 5G/4G/2G listing invites comparison with networks that avoid 2G fallback, and we expect analysts to ask how often it happens.
- Upload speed will get more attention. The Airtel and RJIL split shows that download-only comparisons miss part of the picture, and tourism-heavy areas such as Hampi make uplink visible.
- More district reports will follow. The Vijayanagara release shows the format works, and readers will start comparing districts against each other.
The Takeaway on TRAI’s Vijayanagara Results
The TRAI Vijayanagara drive test gives subscribers a rare, regulator-collected comparison of four networks on the same roads in the same month. RJIL leads on download speed and poor-signal share. Airtel leads on dropped calls and upload speed. VIL sits in the middle. BSNL trails on every reported measure.
The limits are as important as the findings. The data covers one district in one month, the report we worked from names no causes, and call samples are small enough that the top two networks cannot be separated on drops. Within those limits, the BSNL gap is large enough to stand up to any reasonable discount for noise.
FAQ: TRAI Vijayanagara Network Quality Test
When did TRAI release the Vijayanagara drive test results?
TRAI released the results on 26 October 2026. The testing itself took place in August 2026.
Which operators did TRAI test in Vijayanagara?
The report names four operators: Airtel, BSNL, RJIL, and VIL.
Which network had the fastest average download speed?
RJIL recorded the highest average overall download speed at 151.30 Mbps on 5G/4G. Airtel followed at 87.50 Mbps, then VIL at 22.09 Mbps and BSNL at 10.47 Mbps.
Which network had the fastest upload speed?
Airtel had the highest average upload speed at 20.69 Mbps. RJIL recorded 14.00 Mbps, VIL 10.77 Mbps, and BSNL 5.41 Mbps.
How many calls dropped on each network?
Airtel dropped 1 of 471 established calls, RJIL 2 of 478, VIL 8 of 467, and BSNL 37 of 425.
What do the poor-signal numbers mean?
They count the test samples where signal was poor against all samples taken. BSNL logged 18,287 out of 48,469, VIL 8,930 out of 51,328, Airtel 3,067 out of 52,309, and RJIL 2,750 out of 52,578.
Which locations did the test cover?
TRAI lists Vijayanagara, Hosapete & Hampi, and Banavikallu.
Does the report explain why BSNL scored lowest?
The figures we worked from give no cause for any operator’s results. They show the measurements only, so reasons such as tower density or spectrum holdings remain unconfirmed.
