One in every seventeen BSNL calls dropped before the conversation ended
In the sprawling districts of West Bengal, India's telecom regulator sent engineers into the field to measure not promises, but reality — what mobile networks actually deliver to the people who depend on them. Over twelve days and nearly a thousand kilometers of roads, rails, and corridors, a clear and sobering divergence emerged: private carriers have vaulted into a new era of connectivity, while the state-owned BSNL struggles to meet even the most basic expectations of reliability. The findings are less a verdict on a single company than a mirror held up to the uneven pace of a nation's digital transformation.
- Jio's 5G network delivered 212.68 Mbps in West Bengal — nearly seventeen times faster than BSNL's 12.50 Mbps — exposing a performance gap that goes far beyond incremental difference.
- BSNL's voice network failed to connect one in six calls and dropped nearly one in seventeen that did connect, leaving users with a service that cannot be relied upon for the most fundamental function of a phone.
- Signal weakness plagued BSNL in 34% of urban test locations, compared to under 6% for any private competitor, pointing to deep structural deficits in towers, equipment, and network density.
- Regulators tested not just commercial corridors but hospitals, courts, pilgrimage sites, and wildlife sanctuaries — ensuring the results reflect where real people actually need connectivity to work.
- The findings now anchor a critical policy question: whether BSNL can be rebuilt into a competitive force through investment, or whether it will recede into a safety-net role as private operators claim the profitable terrain.
In mid-February, engineers from India's telecom regulator spread across West Bengal with a clear mission: measure what mobile networks actually deliver in real conditions. Over twelve days, they covered nearly 900 kilometers through city streets, highways, and railway corridors, testing in hospitals, courts, markets, schools, and pilgrimage sites. What they found was a story of sharp divergence.
The numbers were unambiguous. On 5G download speeds, Jio averaged 212.68 Mbps and Airtel 120.39 Mbps. BSNL, the government-owned carrier, managed just 12.50 Mbps — roughly one-seventeenth of Jio's performance. In high-demand hotspot zones, the private operators pulled even further ahead.
Voice calls told an equally troubling story for BSNL. Its network connected calls successfully just 83.79% of the time, while competitors exceeded 99%. Nearly one in seventeen BSNL calls dropped mid-conversation, compared to near-zero for Airtel. A call took over six seconds to connect on BSNL versus less than one second on Jio. Even voice quality, measured on a technical scale, came in at 3.13 on BSNL against 4.52 on Jio. Signal weakness compounded everything: poor conditions appeared in 34% of BSNL's urban test locations, versus under 6% for any private rival.
The testing spanned North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts, deliberately including the full range of environments where Indians live and work. The breadth ensured the results reflected genuine user experience rather than controlled conditions.
What emerges is a portrait of a telecom market where private operators have reached 5G maturity while a state-owned incumbent struggles with basic reliability across speed, voice, and coverage. For policymakers, the findings sharpen an urgent question: whether BSNL can close this gap through accelerated investment, or whether it will settle into a residual role serving underserved areas while private carriers dominate the rest.
In mid-February, engineers from India's telecom regulator fanned out across West Bengal with testing equipment and a straightforward mission: find out what mobile networks actually deliver when people use them. Over twelve days, they drove 436 kilometers through city streets, another 363 kilometers down highways, and 107 kilometers along railway corridors. They walked through hospitals, courts, schools, markets, and pilgrimage sites. They tested every major carrier's network—2G through 5G—using real devices in real conditions. What they found was a story of sharp divergence: private operators racing ahead on 5G, while the state-owned BSNL fell further behind.
The numbers tell the clearest part of the story. When it came to 5G download speeds, Jio (RJIL) averaged 212.68 megabits per second. Airtel managed 120.39 Mbps. Vodafone-Idea came in at 23.36 Mbps. BSNL, the government carrier, delivered 12.50 Mbps—roughly one-seventeenth of what Jio provided. In hotspot zones where demand clusters thickest, Jio hit 242.15 Mbps while Airtel reached 181.53 Mbps. The gap wasn't a matter of degree; it was a chasm.
But speed alone doesn't capture the full picture. Voice calls—still the backbone of how most Indians use their phones—revealed even starker problems for BSNL. When someone tried to place a call on BSNL's network, it connected successfully 83.79 percent of the time. Competitors cleared 99 percent or better. More troubling, one in every seventeen BSNL calls dropped before the conversation ended, a 5.85 percent failure rate compared to essentially zero for Airtel and half a percent for Jio and Vodafone-Idea. A call on BSNL took 6.33 seconds to connect. Jio did it in 0.62 seconds. And when people did manage to talk, the voice quality—measured on a technical scale where 4.5 is excellent—came through at 3.13 on BSNL's network versus 4.52 on Jio's.
Signal strength painted the same picture. In city voice tests, BSNL showed poor signal conditions in 34 percent of locations. Airtel encountered this problem in 1.6 percent of places. Jio in 2.13 percent. Vodafone-Idea in 5.91 percent. The same pattern held on highways and railway routes. This wasn't random variation; it reflected fundamental gaps in BSNL's infrastructure—fewer towers, older equipment, less investment in network density.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority conducted this assessment across North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts, testing in diverse environments to capture how networks actually performed where people lived and worked. They included not just commercial zones but hospitals, courts, educational institutions, wildlife sanctuaries, railway stations, and pilgrimage centers. The breadth of the testing meant the results reflected genuine user experience, not laboratory conditions.
What emerges is a portrait of an Indian telecom market where private operators have leapfrogged into 5G maturity while a state-owned incumbent struggles with basic reliability. BSNL's challenges span the entire spectrum—from the raw speed of data delivery to the fundamental dependability of voice calls to the geographic coverage that makes networks work at all. The private carriers, by contrast, show the kind of performance consistency that suggests they've invested heavily in modern infrastructure and are reaping the benefits.
For regulators and policymakers, the findings underscore a question that will shape India's digital future: whether BSNL can close this gap through accelerated investment, or whether the state carrier will continue to serve primarily as a safety net for underserved areas while private operators dominate where profits concentrate. The independent drive test provides the evidence base for that conversation—and the evidence is stark.
Citações Notáveis
Private operators show strong performance in both 5G data and voice services, with RJIL leading in data speeds, while BSNL faces significant challenges in speed, signal strength and call reliability— TRAI findings summary
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does BSNL fall so far behind? Is it just that they haven't built enough towers?
It's more than that. The speed gap suggests older technology, less spectrum, and networks stretched thin. But the voice metrics—the dropped calls, the slow connection times—those point to fundamental network congestion and aging infrastructure. They're trying to serve the same demand with less capacity.
The 34 percent poor signal rate in cities is striking. How does that happen in an urban area?
It means sparse tower density, likely older equipment, and possibly spectrum constraints. When you're competing against operators who've invested billions in 4G and 5G rollout, falling behind on coverage becomes a death spiral. Users switch carriers, revenue drops, investment capacity shrinks.
Does BSNL serve a different customer base? Are these tests measuring something unfair?
The tests were conducted in the same locations, same conditions, same devices. If anything, BSNL might have advantages in some rural areas not tested here. But in West Bengal's urban and highway corridors, there's no asterisk. The performance gap is real.
What does 212 Mbps on 5G actually mean for a user?
It means downloading a movie in seconds instead of minutes. It means video calls that don't buffer. It means the network can handle multiple simultaneous uses without degradation. At 12.50 Mbps, you're still in the 4G era, practically speaking.
Is this a West Bengal problem or a national one?
The study is specific to West Bengal, but BSNL's structural challenges are nationwide. What's different here is that we have hard numbers showing the gap. Other regions might look similar or worse.
What happens next? Does BSNL have a path forward?
That depends on whether the government commits serious capital to modernization. The regulator has the data now. Whether policy follows is a different question.