This was South Africa’s best mobile network in 2024

Mobile service provider MTN was the best mobile network in South Africa in 2024, followed by Vodacom, Cell C and Telkom in fourth place.

This is according to the MyBroadband Insights Mobile Network Quality Report released on Tuesday.

The report covers the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 and comprises 1.17 million speed tests performed by 18,649 mobile data users.

Best network

MTN maintained its number one position in all aspects of the network performance tests and significantly outperformed its major rivals.

It had the highest average download speed, 80.88 Mbps, followed by Vodacom, 65.14 Mbps; Cell C, 54.43 Mbps; Telkom, 34.07 Mbps; and Rain, 21.82 Mbps.

MTN was also the top-performing network across major cities, including Tshwane, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, and Mangaung.

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The report revealed that the MTN’s strong performance followed extensive investment in network resilience and rolling out more than 6 200 new Radio Access Network activities including modernisation, new site builds, sectorisations, and transmission upgrades.

It also implemented advanced network optimisation techniques, such as software upgrades, energy-efficient equipment, and smart load balancing.

Vodacom

Vodacom achieved the best 5G performance in South Africa, driven by the continuous expansion of its 5G network.

Cell C was the biggest surprise of 2024. Its network speeds doubled over the last eighteen months, and it is closing in on Vodacom in second place.

Results

MyBroadband Insights results were not just determined by speed and overall 5G coverage.

To determine the best mobile network in South Africa, each network was given a “Network Quality Score” based on download speed, upload speed and latency.

The Network Quality Score out of 10 then shows how a network performed in relation to other networks.

MTN reigned supreme with a Network Quality Score of 9.9, followed by Vodacom at 7.72, Cell C at 7.12, Telkom at 5.07, and Rain at 4.51.

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