{"id":642309,"date":"2026-04-21T10:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=642309"},"modified":"2026-04-21T10:17:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:17:56","slug":"best-mobile-network-in-south-africa-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/642309-best-mobile-network-in-south-africa-3.html","title":{"rendered":"Best mobile network in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MyBroadband Insights has released its Q1 2026 Mobile Network Quality Report, which shows that MTN has the best mobile network in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings were based on more than 315,000 speed tests conducted by mobile users across South Africa during the first quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The testing included a combination of crowdsourced data and dedicated drive tests, providing a comprehensive assessment of mobile network performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the drive testing, MyBroadband Insights travelled 20,000km and tested networks in South Africa\u2019s major cities, towns, and roads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testing was performed on high-end smartphones supporting the latest technologies, as well as on mid-range devices that reflect the experience of typical users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MTN dominated overall network performance and consistently outperformed its competitors across key metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It recorded the highest average download speed at 83.01Mbps, followed by Vodacom at 70.69Mbps, Cell C at 62.02Mbps, Telkom at 51.55Mbps, and Rain at 22.01Mbps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MTN was also the top-performing network in major metros, including Tshwane, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, and Mangaung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its strong performance was attributed to continued investment in both LTE and 5G infrastructure. Vodacom took second place overall, with its strong 5G performance offsetting its lower 4G performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cell C is performing well thanks to its great upload speeds, but is being held back by its lack of 5G support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To determine the best mobile network in South Africa, each network was given a \u201cNetwork Quality Score\u201d out of 10 based on download speed, upload speed, and latency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows how a network performed relative to other networks. MTN reigned supreme with a Network Quality Score of 9.77, followed by Vodacom at 7.95, Cell C at 7.85, Telkom at 6.42, and Rain at 4.35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table and infographic below provide an overview of the mobile network rankings in South Africa during Q1 of 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Network Operator<\/th>Download Speed (Mbps)<\/th>Upload Speed (Mbps)<\/th>Latency (ms)<\/th>Network <\/strong>Quality Score<\/strong><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
MTN<\/td>83.01<\/td>28.15<\/td>29<\/td>9.77<\/td><\/tr>
Vodacom<\/td>70.69<\/td>15.52<\/td>30<\/td>7.95<\/td><\/tr>
Cell C<\/td>62.02<\/td>29.00<\/td>39<\/td>7.85<\/td><\/tr>
Telkom<\/td>51.55<\/td>11.74<\/td>28<\/td>6.42<\/td><\/tr>
Rain<\/td>22.01<\/td>10.97<\/td>27<\/td>4.35<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MyBroadband Insights has released its Q1 2026 Mobile Network Quality Report, revealing the top mobile network in South Africa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":642316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[2542,19420,45136,355,42,60107,104716,43716,109,41],"class_list":["post-642309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-4g","tag-5g","tag-best-mobile-network","tag-cell-c","tag-mtn","tag-mybroadband-insights","tag-q1-2026","tag-rain","tag-telkom","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642309"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642320,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642309\/revisions\/642320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}