SA's best mobile network in 2022 revealed

MTN has been ranked the best mobile network in South Africa in 2022 according to MyBroadband Insights' annual Mobile Network Quality Report.

The report also ranked MTN as the top network in all of South Africa's major metro areas including Tshwane, Cape Town, Johannesburg, eThekwini, Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay and Ekurhuleni.

The report is based on 1.36 million results from MyBroadband's Android Speed Test App, which were recorded between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022.

The research shows that South Africa had an average mobile download speed of 49.19 Mbit/s and an average upload speed of 14.15 Mbit/s last year.

That was an improvement on the country's speeds from 2021, when South Africa's average mobile download speed was 40.86 Mbit/s and the average upload speed was 13.82 Mbit/s.

Source: 2022 Mobile Network Quality Report from MyBroadband Insights.

MTN dominance continues

MTN had the highest average download speed at 68.84 Mbit/s, followed by Vodacom at 48.58 Mbit/s, Telkom at 28.54 Mbit/s, Cell C at 23.41 Mbit/s, while Rain was the slowest at 15.14 Mbit/s.

"MTN's exceptional performance results from outspending its rivals on infrastructure investment over the past five years. Vodacom has, however, started to spend more than MTN over the last two years, which started to show in the latest results," MyBroadband Insights said in a statement about the report.

MTN also came out on top in both the 2021 and 2020 Mobile Network Quality Reports from MyBroadband Insights.

MTN's average download speed increased from 64.23 Mbit/s in 2021 to 68.84 Mbit/s in 2022. However the operator's overall upload speed was slower in 2022 at 19.77 Mbit/s compared to 22.09 Mbit/s a year before.

Source: 2022 Mobile Network Quality Report from MyBroadband Insights.

The 2022 report also found a sharp increase in 5G tests in 2022 as operators expanded their 5G footprint to more locations across South Africa.

Want to know more about 4G and 5G in Africa? Check out our dedicated 4G/5G content channel here on Connecting Africa.

The speed test results also revealed that extreme load shedding towards the end of 2022 caused unstable connections among all operators.

Mobile operators are now investing in improved batteries and backup generators to mitigate the effects of the prolonged power outages.

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*Top image source: Image by wirestock on Freepik.