Best mobile network in South Africa revealed
MyBroadband Insights has released its 2025 Mobile Network Quality Report, which shows that MTN has the best mobile network in South Africa.
The findings are based on 1.3 million speed tests conducted by mobile users across South Africa during 2025.
The testing combined crowdsourced data and dedicated drive tests to provide a comprehensive assessment of mobile network performance.
As part of the drive testing, MyBroadband Insights travelled 73,000km and tested networks in South Africa’s major cities, towns, and roads.
Testing was performed using high-end smartphones with support for the latest technologies, as well as mid-range devices that reflect the experience of typical users.
MTN dominated overall network performance and consistently outperformed its competitors across the most important metrics.
It recorded the highest average download speed at 83.94Mbps, followed by Vodacom at 67.02Mbps, Cell C at 61.9Mbps, Telkom at 44.94Mbps, and Rain at 22.13Mbps.
MTN was also the top-performing network in major metros, including Tshwane, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, and Mangaung.
Its strong performance is attributed to continued investment in infrastructure for both LTE and 5G networks, and spectrum pooling deals with Cell C and Liquid Intelligent Technologies.
Cell C retained second place overall, ahead of Vodacom, with significantly better average upload speeds to compensate for the slightly slower download speed.
Cell C’s performance is closing in but not quite matching that of MTN, which hosts its virtual radio access network.
Vodacom delivered the best 5G performance in the country, driven by the ongoing investment in the latest network technologies.
Best mobile network in South Africa
To determine the best mobile network in South Africa, each network was given a Network Quality Score” based on download speed, upload speed, and latency.
The Network Quality Score out of 10 then shows how a network performed in relation to other networks.
MTN reigned supreme with a Network Quality Score of 9.96, followed by Cell C at 8.02, Vodacom at 7.69, Telkom at 6.06, and Rain at 4.38.
The table below provides an overview of the mobile network rankings in South Africa.
| Network Operator | Download Speed (Mbps) | Upload Speed (Mbps) | Latency (ms) | Network Quality Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTN | 83.94 | 27.77 | 30 | 9.96 |
| Cell C | 61.90 | 27.27 | 36 | 8.02 |
| Vodacom | 67.02 | 14.28 | 31 | 7.69 |
| Telkom | 44.94 | 12.10 | 30 | 6.06 |
| Rain | 22.13 | 11.10 | 29 | 4.38 |
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