MTN has best mobile network – MyBroadband Insights

8th April 2019 By: Natasha Odendaal - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Telecommunications giant MTN has once again secured the top position in MyBroadband Insights’ quarterly ‘Mobile Network Quality’ report.

The first quarter 2019 report, which ranks South Africa's mobile networks on a network quality score, shows MTN boasts South Africa’s best mobile network.

MTN achieved a network quality score of ten – the highest value obtainable when comparing the relative performance of networks, with the score calculated for each network considering download speed, upload speed and latency.

This is based on 345 700 speed tests performed by 11 792 MyBroadband Android Speed Test App users nationwide between January 1 and March 31.

MTN also secured a ranking of ten in the fourth quarter of 2018, based on 383 479 speed tests conducted between October 1 and December 31, 2018.

Meanwhile Vodacom achieved a score of 8.33 in the first quarter of this year, sliding quarter-on-quarter from its fourth quarter score of 9.68.

Rain scored 7.01, Telkom 6.26, and Cell C 5.89 during the first quarter, compared with the preceding quarter’s scores of 8.04, 6.88 and 6.16 respectively.

The research shows that South Africa had an average mobile download speed of 24.2 Mb/s, up from 22.18 Mb/s in the previous quarter, said MyBroadband Insights director Marius Hollenbach.

MTN had the highest average download speed for the quarter under review at 32.99 Mb/s, followed by Vodacom with 27.21 Mb/s, Rain with 21.62 Mb/s, Telkom with 21.99 Mb/s and Cell C with 17.19 Mb/s.

This compared with the prior quarter’s average download speed of 26.95 Mb/s for MTN and 26.78 Mb/s for Vodacom, while Rain registered speeds of 21.67 Mb/s, Telkom of 19.83 Mb/s and Cell C of 15.56 Mb/s.

“The ranking of operators was the same as the previous quarter, but with a higher average performance,” he said.

“Considering that there was widespread load-shedding over the quarter, it pays testament to the resilience of South African mobile networks.”

Hollenbach highlighted that MTN's network investment over the past few years was significantly higher than Vodacom's, and the rankings continue to track the capital expenditure of the operators.