AIZAWL –Airtel delivered the fastest 5G speeds recorded at TRAI-tested hotspots across Mizoram, while Jio performed better on overall download speed and voice reliability in the same assessment.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India conducted its Independent Drive Test from May 20 to 23, 2026, covering 342.4 km of city routes, 11 hotspot locations and 1.3 km of walk tests across Lunglei, Lawngtlai and Siaha districts and adjoining areas. TRAI released the findings on July 22.
At the 11 hotspots, Airtel averaged 132.75 Mbps on 5G downloads, ahead of Jio’s 87.28 Mbps. Airtel also recorded 29.39 Mbps on 5G uploads, compared with 10.91 Mbps for Jio.
Across the wider test, which covered the available 5G, 4G and older network technologies, Jio averaged 70.47 Mbps in downloads, narrowly ahead of Airtel at 67.54 Mbps. Vi recorded 14.84 Mbps and BSNL 5.76 Mbps. Airtel led overall uploads at 14.16 Mbps, followed by Jio at 5.75 Mbps, Vi at 3.56 Mbps and BSNL at 2.62 Mbps.
Voice results gave Jio a stronger lead. Its dropped-call rate was 1.67%, compared with 4.48% for Airtel, 14.53% for BSNL and 14.98% for Vi in the automatic network-selection test covering 5G, 4G, 3G and 2G. Jio also posted the highest call setup success rate at 91.76%, followed by Airtel at 87.66%, BSNL at 51.32% and Vi at 44.73%. Its average call setup time was 0.91 seconds, compared with 3.07 seconds for Airtel, 7.86 seconds for BSNL and 3.99 seconds for Vi.
Signal measurements showed Airtel and Jio were considerably ahead of BSNL and Vi during voice testing. Poor-signal observations accounted for 24.29% of Airtel’s samples and 25.03% of Jio’s, compared with 52.93% for BSNL and 56.40% for Vi.
In data testing, Airtel recorded 32.28% poor-signal observations, followed by BSNL at 44.66%, Jio at 45.97% and Vi at 65.25%.
Speech quality produced a different result. Vi recorded the highest Mean Opinion Score at 4.37, ahead of Jio at 4.20, Airtel at 3.92 and BSNL at 2.85. TRAI classifies a score of 4 as good and 5 as excellent.
The test covered public locations including district courts, hospitals, colleges, a market and a Border Roads Organisation centre. Walk tests were also conducted at Civil Hospital Lunglei and Government Lawngtlai College.
TRAI said the drive-test figures represent performance on the specific routes and locations measured during the May assessment. They therefore do not represent network performance across every part of Mizoram.
