Shimla, July 9
As Himachal Pradesh expands digital governance across its mountainous terrain — from telemedicine in community health centers to smart classrooms in government schools — a recent network quality audit by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) raises concerns about the state’s preparedness. The findings point to significant disparities in mobile network performance between city centers and rural or transit corridors, suggesting that the digital leap may be falling short in its reach.
The Independent Drive Test (IDT), conducted between May 26 and 28, 2025, assessed voice and data service quality across Una and Mandi towns, major highway routes via Bilaspur, and return stretches through Rewalsar and Hamirpur. TRAI teams also evaluated connectivity along the busy New Delhi–Una railway corridor — a key route for students, patients, and migrant workers.
Altogether, over 785 kilometers were covered, including 116.6 km of city roads, 283.9 km of highways, and 384.8 km of railway lines. Tests were carried out at key institutional and public service hotspots such as IIT Mandi, ISBT Una, Sunrise Hospital, District and Sessions Court Una, and ICFAI University, reflecting how connectivity performs in settings critical to e-governance and public delivery.
The results revealed a tale of two Himachals. In cities like Una and Mandi, telecom providers such as Airtel and Reliance Jio delivered robust 5G data speeds — with Airtel peaking at 572.97 Mbps download and 62.30 Mbps upload. RJIL followed with 326.39 Mbps download and 53.38 Mbps upload. These figures suggest that the state’s urban digital ambitions are beginning to align with infrastructure rollout.
However, once outside urban cores, performance dropped sharply. Along the Una–Mandi highway and surrounding rural settlements — areas integral to schemes like tele-health, e-office, and rural e-learning — networks struggled with slow data speeds and unstable voice connectivity. BSNL’s average download speed was just 3.25 Mbps, while VIL averaged 15.88 Mbps. In contrast, RJIL and Airtel maintained average download speeds of 194.15 Mbps and 134.56 Mbps respectively.
Upload speeds, crucial for video consultations and real-time file sharing, also showed a similar divide. BSNL’s performance lagged at 3.76 Mbps, while Airtel and RJIL offered 19.07 Mbps and 18.89 Mbps respectively.
Voice services were even more revealing. BSNL registered a worrying 15.69% drop call rate — a serious concern in areas where mobile calls remain the primary means of communication. By comparison, Airtel and RJIL kept drop call rates below 1%. Call setup times, mute rates, and voice clarity were all significantly better in urban hotspots than in rural patches.
Walk tests in dense pedestrian areas — such as Una Railway Station and the IIT Mandi campus — showed that while services held up in stationary urban environments, mobility along rural roads and rail tracks exposed vulnerabilities in signal handoff and data continuity.
TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti noted that these findings are not just technical metrics, but a snapshot of lived digital experiences in the region. “Service quality must align with growing user expectations, particularly in a state like Himachal Pradesh that is aggressively pursuing digital outreach in education, healthcare, and public administration,” he said.
The report also calls into question the digital readiness of Himachal’s disaster-prone zones. As state departments digitize land records, ration systems, and emergency coordination apps, poor network coverage in remote areas may impede access precisely when it is needed most.
With the state government keen on branding Himachal as a digitally empowered hill state, TRAI’s findings serve as a timely reminder: robust digital governance cannot be built on patchy telecom foundations. As the push for smart villages and digital gram panchayats accelerates, bridging these telecom gaps will be essential not just for service delivery — but for digital justice.
The full TRAI report is available at www.trai.gov.in.
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