Virgin Mobile topped user satisfaction in the year 2008. Out of 11 telecom operators only 5 could meet 90% quality benchmark set by TRAI.

Airtel which is considered to be the largest private operator in the sector failed to qualify for the TRAI benchmark. The other telecom operators that failed were BPL, Idea, MTNL and Spice. Vodafone and BSNL vied for the second spot with Vodafone making it to the spot by just 0.01%.

The survey was conducted by CyberMedia group's flagship communications industry monthly Voice&Data in association with JuxtConsult, an online research firm. It evaluated user satisfaction on five broad parameters – pre-sales and sales, network availability, VAS, customer care, and billing.
According to Prasanto K Roy, Chief Editor CyberMedia, "A side-effect of the scorching pace of growth of the mobile phones in India is the rapid drop in quality of service. Five major players—Airtel, BPL, Idea, MTNL, Spice—have yet to touch their previous best score achieved in 2005. This is a cause for major concern."

Lack of customer care service and poor network availability were on the top priorities that needed attention of the service providers. 

Virgin Mobile topped pre sales and sales parameter. BPL and MTNL topped network performance. BSNL topped the VAS parameter. The billing integrity parameter place was shared by Virgin, Vodafone, BSNL and Reliance.

However, in the customer care parameter, none of the 11 service providers could  get past the 90 percent benchmark.