As India rapidly transitions into a digitally connected economy, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday released its Independent Drive Test (IDT) findings for the Himachal Pradesh Licensed Service Area (LSA), covering extensive routes during the month of May.

The drive tests, conducted under the supervision of the TRAI Regional Office, Delhi, were designed to capture real-world mobile network performance across diverse usage environments – Urban Zones, Institutional Hotspots, Public Transport Hubs, and high-speed Corridors.

TRAI teams conducted detailed tests across 116.6 kms of city test, 283.9 kms of highway test, 384.8 kms of railway test, 5 hotspot locations and 2.3 kms of walk test. Technologies evaluated included 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G, reflecting the service experience of users across multiple handset capabilities.

The overall mobile network performance in Una and Mandi were found to be mixed. Airtel, BSNL, RJIL and VIL have call setup success rate of 98.90 per cent, 93.29 per cent, 98.70 per cent and 95.48 per cent, respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G).

“Airtel, BSNL, RJIL and VIL have drop call rate of 0.67 per cent, 15.69 per cent, 0.66 per cent and 2.03 per cent respectively in auto-selection mode (5G/4G/3G/2G).

“5G data services also delivered encouraging results in city hotspots, with peak download speeds reaching 572.97 Mbps and upload speeds touching 62.30 Mbps,” according to TRAI data.

Anil Kumar Lahoti, Chairman of TRAI, said that “TRAI remains committed to ensuring that service quality keeps pace with consumer expectations. These IDT results reflect actual user experience, help benchmark operator performance, and guide necessary network improvements.”

The tests were conducted using TRAI-calibrated equipment and standardised protocols in real-time environments.

In Una and Mandi, the assessment included high-density neighbourhoods like Barnoh, Dangoli, Jal Gran, Jhalera and Lal Singhi etc., in Una and Pakhri, Kunnu, Narla, Padhar and Kotropi etc., in Mandi.