{"id":642920,"date":"2026-04-23T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T10:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=642920"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:03:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:03:40","slug":"the-team-that-created-the-best-mobile-network-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/642920-the-team-that-created-the-best-mobile-network-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"The team that created the best mobile network in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Zoltan Miklos and his team of engineers and planners have created the best mobile network South Africa has ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MTN recently won the coveted MyBroadband \u2018Best Mobile Network in South Africa\u2019 award for the eighth year in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mobile operator has dominated independent network quality rankings in South Africa for years. However, this was not always the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years, Vodacom had the best network and was known for being the first to launch new technologies, such as 3G and LTE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vodacom became synonymous with being the mobile operator with the superior network and worked hard to maintain this crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things began to change a decade ago, when former MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati announced a major project to improve network quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The operator increased its network investment by 50% to R12 billion to improve peak performance on its 3G and LTE networks and significantly reduce dropped calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy worked. In 2017 and 2018, MTN\u2019s network was ranked the co-best by Ookla and MyBroadband, and the best by P3 Communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2019, MTN had achieved a clear lead over Vodacom in independent network quality tests, which it has maintained until today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nyati recently commented on MTN South Africa\u2019s network improvement project, saying the turnaround was not magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a combination of accurate diagnosis, the right internal leadership, capable and aligned strategic partners, and disciplined, time-bound execution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTurnarounds aren\u2019t about heroes. They\u2019re about building the right team, inside and out, and executing relentlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that true transformation, like the MTN network improvement, happens when multiple stakeholders play their distinct roles in harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team behind MTN South Africa\u2019s award-winning network<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Zoltan Miklos (right) receives TM Forum ANL4 certificate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The man leading the team behind MTN\u2019s exceptional network performance is Zoltan Miklos, a telecoms veteran with 30 years of experience in networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was part of the team that launched 8ta (now Telkom Mobile) and played a key role in planning and implementing the data network connectivity architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He joined MTN in 2017 and became a driving force behind MTN South Africa\u2019s strategy to create the best mobile network in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Miklos leads a team of network engineers, planners, and optimisation specialists to ensure MTN delivers the best customer experience. The team includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Farhad Essop \u2014 Network Operations<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Richard Nunes \u2014 Network Implementation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Solomzi Mnyaka \u2014 Network Services Engineering<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Gustav Hoffmann \u2014 Radio Quality, Network Planning, and Optimisation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Ronnie Kritzinger \u2014 Network Technology<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Thokozani Malinga \u2014 Radio Network Planning<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Rodney Reddy \u2014 Network Planning and Engineering<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Nadeem Amra \u2014 Radio Network Performance<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Dijon Mannie \u2014 Radio Access Network Planning<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Ronald Moodley \u2014 Radio Quality<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Nontuthuzelo Gugushe \u2014 Head of Network Operations<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Rami Farah \u2014 Chief Technology Officer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    This team is responsible for the planning and architecture of the mobile network spanning across several domains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It includes radio access network planning and network quality and optimisation, transmission, and IP access planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They are also responsible for OSS tools planning, technology governance, including network type approval, and mobile device testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Miklos is quick to point out that building and maintaining the best network in South Africa is a team effort, supported by the company as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He highlighted that they hold regular meetings to improve network quality, with participants from the planning, deployment, and operational domains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These include representatives from head office and regional areas, who all contribute to improving MTN South Africa\u2019s network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    An example of this teamwork is the recent recognition of MTN SA\u2019s work in autonomous networks, which earned it a TM Forum ANL4 certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This certificate is an industry validation or professional credential associated with achieving Autonomous Network Level 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Miklos explained that they started the autonomous network journey more than a year ago, and this certification showed the great progress they had made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThank you to MTN SA\u2019s Network Access Transmission team and the MTN Group Network supporting teams for making this achievement possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    MTN network awards<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Zoltan Miklos and his team of engineers and planners have created the best mobile network South Africa has ever seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":643030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[104776,104769,104771,42,19188,104775,104770,104774,104777,104772,104773,685],"class_list":["post-642920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecoms","tag-dijon-mannie","tag-farhad-essop","tag-gustav-hoffmann","tag-mtn","tag-mtn-south-africa","tag-nadeem-amra","tag-richard-nunes","tag-rodney-reddy","tag-ronald-moodley","tag-ronnie-kritzinger","tag-thokozani-malinga","tag-zoltan-miklos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642920"}],"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=642920"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643147,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642920\/revisions\/643147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}