Who’s winning Mumbai’s mobile race? TRAI’s drive tests have answers

Mumbai: Mumbai’s mobile networks have been run hard and measured closely, and the results are blunt. A fresh drive test by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India shows sharp contrasts in call quality and data performance across operators, with Reliance Jio and Airtel largely setting the pace and MTNL falling well behind.

The independent drive tests, conducted in November 2025 under the supervision of TRAI’s regional office in Bengaluru, covered more than 320 km across city roads, local trains, coastal routes, hotspots and crowded pedestrian zones. The aim was simple: capture how networks actually perform where people live, travel and work.

On basic voice services, Airtel and Reliance Jio delivered near-flawless call setup success rates of 99.62 per cent and 99.81 per cent respectively. Vodafone Idea followed at 96.07 per cent. MTNL, however, lagged sharply at 28.52 per cent. Drop call rates told a similar story, with Airtel at 0.00 per cent and Jio at 0.56 per cent, compared with 22.47 per cent for MTNL and 6.43 per cent for Vodafone Idea.

Call setup times were quickest on Jio at 0.60 seconds, followed by Airtel at 1.32 seconds. Vodafone Idea and MTNL took over five and four seconds respectively. On voice clarity, measured through mean opinion score, Vodafone Idea topped the chart at 4.44, ahead of Airtel at 3.91 and Jio at 3.80, while MTNL again trailed at 2.67.

Data performance widened the gap further. Reliance Jio clocked the highest average download speed at 221.34 Mbps, far ahead of Airtel’s 84.99 Mbps and Vodafone Idea’s 49.79 Mbps. MTNL managed just 4.05 Mbps. Upload speeds followed a similar pattern, with Jio leading at 32.82 Mbps. Latency was lowest on Vodafone Idea and Jio, signalling smoother real-time performance.

At high-traffic hotspots, Jio’s 5G download speeds surged past 319 Mbps, while Airtel crossed 134 Mbps. Vodafone Idea’s 5G speeds were more modest, and MTNL showed no presence of 4G or 5G at all.

The tests spanned dense neighbourhoods from Colaba and Dadar to Dharavi, Chembur and Ghatkopar, along with key locations such as CSMT, Ghatkopar station, major hospitals, metro stations and markets. Walk tests at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Tata Memorial Hospital and Wadala station captured performance in packed pedestrian environments, while rail and coastal routes tested networks on the move.

TRAI said the findings have been shared with all telecom service providers for corrective action. For consumers, the message is clear. In Mumbai’s crowded airwaves, speed and stability are no longer promises on paper. They are being measured, named and ranked.