Shillong, June 9: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the findings of an Independent Drive Test (IDT) conducted across East Jaintia Hills and West Jaintia Hills as well as along a stretch of National Highway 6 in Meghalaya to assess the quality of mobile network services offered by telecom operators.
The drive tests, carried out between March 11 and March 16, 2026 under the North East Licensed Service Area (LSA), covered 213km of city routes, 98.9km of highways, 10 hotspot locations and a 0.5km walk test.
Conducted under the supervision of TRAI’s Regional Office in Kolkata, the exercise evaluated key quality parameters including network coverage, call drop rates, call setup success rates, speech quality, download and upload speeds, latency and packet loss.
According to the report, Reliance Jio recorded the highest average download speeds, reaching 97.89 Mbps during city drives and 122.77 Mbps on highway routes. Airtel also delivered strong performance with download speeds of 72.24 Mbps in city areas and 88.50 Mbps along highways. BSNL and Vodafone Idea (VIL) reported comparatively lower data throughput and higher instances of weak signal strength in several locations.
The tests also revealed coverage gaps and dropped calls across networks. During city drives, BSNL recorded 34 dropped calls and VIL 30, while Jio reported only two dropped calls. Along highway routes, VIL registered the highest number of dropped calls at 10.
The drive covered areas including Jowai, Khliehtyrshi, Nartiang, Shangpung, Sutnga, while highway testing was conducted along NH-6 through Ratacherra, Umkiang, Sonapur, Lad Rymbai and Mukhla. Hotspot assessments included government offices, educational institutions, hospitals and commercial locations.
In Shillong, the findings are significant as consumers and businesses in Meghalaya’s commercial hub increasingly rely on high-speed mobile connectivity for digital payments, online services and e-commerce.
