South Africa’s best mobile network revealed — and one operator stands out

MyBroadband Insights has released the Q2 2021 Mobile Network Quality Report, which shows that MTN has the best mobile network in South Africa.

The report is based on 304,001 speed tests which were performed by thousands of MyBroadband Speed Test App users across South Africa between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021.

The research shows that South Africa had an average mobile download speed of 37.49Mbps and an average upload speed of 13.59Mbps.

MTN had the highest average download speed at 67.22Mbps, followed by Vodacom on 33.74Mbps, Telkom on 29.04Mbps, Cell C on 20.72Mbps and Rain on 11.83Mbps.

MTN’s exceptional performance results from outspending its rivals on infrastructure investment over the past five years.

MTN’s R50 billion network investment helped it extend coverage, improve network quality, and increase speeds.

It is noteworthy that the average download speed in South Africa is 10Mbps faster than what it was a year ago.

The improved network performance results from increased network investment and temporary spectrum issued to mobile operators during the lockdown.

This temporary spectrum helped mobile networks to increase their network capacity and improve their average speeds during the lockdown.

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.

MTN reigned supreme with a Network Quality Score of 9.79, followed by Vodacom on 5.72, Telkom on 5.19, Cell C on 4.16, and Rain on 3.61.

The table below provides an overview of the mobile network rankings in South Africa.