Johannesburg – MTN has the best mobile network in South Africa, this is according to the latest Q1 2021 Mobile Network Quality Report published by MyBroadband Insights.
According to the report, MTN had the highest average download speed at 64.29Mbps, followed by Vodacom at 32.76Mbps, Telkom at 27.83Mbps, Cell C ON 20.82Mbps, and Rain at 10.58Mbps.
The findings were based on 349 575-speed tests that were conducted by thousands of MyBroadband Speed Test App users across South Africa between January 1 and March 31.
To see the best mobile network in South Africa, a “Network Quality Score” was calculated for each network using download speed, upload speed, and latency.
The New Quality Score out of 10 then shows how a network performed to other networks.
MTN came up tops with a Network Quality Score of 9.73, followed by Vodacom on 5.65, Telkom on 5.17, Cell C on 4.36, and Rain on 3.40.
The report revealed that the country’s average mobile download speed of 33.23Mbps and an average upload speed of 12.71Mbps.
The report also said that MTN’s performance was due to R50-billion infrastructure investment over the past five years to extend coverage, improve network quality, and increase speeds.
“What makes the improved network performances particularly interesting is that it was possible despite a significant increase in traffic,” it said.
“The reason is the temporary spectrum which was 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,” it said.
The report said Rain was the only operator whose year-on-year performance declined. It’s average download speed lunged from 15.20Mbps in Q1 2020 to 10.58Mbps in Q1 2021.
