This is how Vodacom and MTN’s LTE compares to the rest of the world

OpenSignal, an app which crowdsources network quality information from subscribers on iOS and Android smartphones, has released a report on the state of LTE networks around the world.

The company uses download speed and its own time coverage metric to rank operators and countries.

Time coverage is the proportion of time users have an LTE signal, which OpenSignal said is its proprietary metric for looking at coverage holistically – instead of just as a measurement of geographical reach.

Measured as a percentage, time coverage indicates the proportion of time users spend connected to a particular network.

In its Q4 2015 report, OpenSignal ranked South Africa 39^th out of 68 countries for time coverage.

MTN was ranked 101^st and Vodacom 105^th out of 182 operators globally, with subscribers from both networks seeing time coverage of 62%.

In terms of download speed, South Africa was ranked 59^th out of 68 countries, with an average LTE download speed of 8Mbps.

With average download speeds of 11Mbps, Vodacom was ranked 127^th, while MTN’s average download speed of 4Mbps landed it in 172^nd place.

Stated differently, MTN has the 11^th worst LTE speeds in the world, while Vodacom has the 56^th worst.

The table below summarises the rankings, coverage, and speeds, while the graph plots how Vodacom and MTN’s LTE networks compare to the rest of the world in terms of speed and coverage.

OpenSignal LTE report Q4 2015 quadrant graph

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