TRAI assesses mobile network quality in Fazilka city and surrounding areas (Punjab LSA)

India’s telecommunications regulator, TRAI, has recently completed a comprehensive quality audit of mobile networks in Fazilka city and its surrounding rural and urban areas under Punjab’s Local Service Area (LSA). The assessment included extensive field tests and consumer surveys based on key service‑performance metrics of major chartered operators—coverage, data throughput, call drop‑rate, and user satisfaction. The results revealed that most major operators provided relatively better coverage in urban centers, but disparities in signal strength persisted in border towns and rural areas, leading to significant drops in data speeds and increased call drop‑rates.

During the audit, TRAI also highlighted that many parts of Fazilka have limited availability of 4G LTE service, while the rollout of 5G networks is still in its early stages. According to consumer complaints, especially during morning and evening peak hours, internet speeds frequently degrade and call connections repeatedly fail, becoming a common problem. In this context, the regulator instructed operators to present a clear action plan for coverage expansion and network optimization in the next quarter.

In recent years, similar issues have been faced in several LSAs across Punjab, prompting TRAI to take steps toward establishing unified standards for network quality improvement at the national level. Considering the measures taken in the Fazilka case, industry experts believe that if operators strictly adhere to the regulator’s guidelines, rural and border areas...