MTN has been ranked as the best mobile network in South Africa – ahead of Vodacom, rain, Telkom and Cell C – according to the latest MyBroadband Insights Mobile Network Quality Report. The report is based on 349,575 speed tests that were performed by thousands of users across the country.
The research shows that South Africa had an average mobile download speed of 33.23Mbps and an average upload speed of 12.71Mbps. MTN had the highest average download speed at 64.29Mbps, followed by Vodacom on 32.76Mbps, Telkom on 27.83Mbps, Cell C on 20.82Mbps and Rain on 10.58Mbps.
MTN’s exceptional performance is a result of a R50-billion infrastructure investment over the past five years to extend coverage, improve network quality, and increase speeds.
It is noteworthy that the average speed of all the mobile operators – except for Rain – was significantly higher than a year ago. Rain was the only operator whose year-on-year performance declined. Its average download speed plummeted from 15.20Mbps in Q1 2020 to 10.58Mbps in Q1 2021.
The decline in Rain’s network performance was likely a result of network congestion in some areas because of higher subscriber numbers.
Best Mobile Network in South Africa
To determine the best mobile network in South Africa, a “Network Quality Score” was calculated for each network using download speed, upload speed, and latency. The Network Quality Score out of 10 then shows how a network performed in relation to other networks.
| Network Operator | Download Speed (Mbps) | Upload Speed (Mbps) | Latency (ms) | Network Quality Score |
| MTN | 64.29 | 25.42 | 32 | 9.73 |
| Vodacom | 32.76 | 10.94 | 32 | 5.65 |
| Telkom | 27.83 | 7.24 | 30 | 5.17 |
| Rain | 20.82 | 10.32 | 39 | 4.36 |
| Cell C | 10.58 | 9.64 | 33 | 3.40 |
MTN reigned supreme with a Network Quality Score of 9.73, followed by Vodacom on 5.65, Telkom on 5.17, Cell C on 4.36, and Rain on 3.40.
