AnyTime News 
TRAI Test Drive Report Out: Reliance Jio Leads Data Speed Charts While BSNL Struggles with Massive Call Drops
Gorakhpur/Lucknow, Anytime News Network (Pooja Shrivastava):
To protect telecom consumer rights and evaluate real-time cellular efficiency, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) conducted an intensive, independent Drive Test across Gorakhpur city and the Lucknow-Gorakhpur railway route. Executed between May 4 and May 8, 2026, under the UP (East) license service area, this technical audit monitored key performance parameters such as network coverage gaps, structural call drops, audio silence instances, and data transmission throughput (upload/download speed) across 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G spectrums.
The Coverage Gap and Call Drop Breakdown According to the empirical summary released by TRAI’s Bhopal regional branch, significant variations were spotted among major telecom operators:
Gorakhpur Urban Cluster: BSNL recorded severe network coverage gaps with a whopping 13,582 low-signal samples out of 48,601 tested locations. In contrast, Vodafone Idea (569), Airtel (589), and Jio (623) maintained stable network lines. BSNL also faltered heavily with 22 explicit call drops out of 431 calls, while Airtel registered just 1 call drop.
Lucknow-Gorakhpur Rail Link: The railway corridor exposed major network vulnerabilities. BSNL witnessed a critical signal failure in 6,247 samples along with 25 call drops, whereas Jio and Airtel kept call drop rates under control.
Data Performance: Jio Tops Downloading Speed In terms of internet capabilities, Reliance Jio emerged as the absolute leader in Gorakhpur city, delivering a blistering average download speed of 204.44 Mbps. Airtel followed with 116.48 Mbps, Vodafone Idea scored 64.50 Mbps, while BSNL lagged drastically behind at 5.54 Mbps. On the rail route, download speeds dropped uniformly due to transit latency, with Jio leading at 66.38 Mbps and Airtel managing 38.73 Mbps. For upload speeds, Airtel secured the top urban position at 21.49 Mbps.
The evaluation covered a comprehensive 342.1 km city drive, 11 key hotspots (including AIIMS Gorakhpur, Gorakhpur Junction, and Orion Mall), and 296.3 km of railway route. TRAI has shared these diagnostic findings directly with the concerned service providers to enforce immediate cellular optimizations and infrastructural expansion.
