Telecommunications giant MTN Group has maintained the title of South Africa’s best mobile network in the latest MyBroadband Insights report.

The first quarter 2024 Mobile Network Quality Report shows that MTN achieved a network quality score of 9.66.

This was followed by Vodacom at 8.14, Cell C at 6.09, Telkom at 5.24 and Rain at 4.75.

The network quality score is calculated for each network using download speed, upload speed and latency.

The report, which also included data from crowdsourced users and dedicated drive tests, is based on 285 839 speed tests performed by 7 197 mobile data users across South Africa between January 1 and March 31.

This revealed that South Africa had an average mobile download speed of 66.82 Mb/s and an average upload speed of 15.42 Mb/s.

MTN had the highest average download speed at 82.48 Mb/s and an upload speed of 24.03 Mb/s during the first quarter of 2024.

“MTN’s strong network performance comes on the back of investing R10-billion into its network over the last year. MTN increased its capital expenditure in South Africa by 15% over the last year, which included upgrading infrastructure with advanced batteries and generators,” My Broadband said in a statement on Monday.

“These power upgrades helped MTN to ensure reliable mobile services amid ongoing electricity problems in South Africa.”

Vodacom achieved download speeds of 77.45 Mb/s, and an upload speed of 14.74 Mb/s, Cell C had download speeds of 39.32 Mb/s and upload speeds of 13.36 Mb/s and Telkom registered download and upload speeds 30.49 Mb/s and 10.72 Mb/s respectively.

Rain had the worst performance, with an average download speed of 19.41 Mb/s and upload speeds of 10.31 Mb/s, well below the national average and out of sync with the rest of the industry.

“While MTN reigned supreme in overall network quality, Vodacom has emerged as the best 5G network provider,” MyBroadband noted, highlighting Vodacom’s large investment focus on its fifth-generation (5G) rollout, which helped it to top the 5G speed rankings.

“[However,] despite Vodacom's impressive 5G performance, MTN's comprehensive network coverage and quality across long-term evolution and 5G helped it to offer a superior overall service.”

MTN achieved the best performance in Cape Town, eThekwini, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay, and Vodacom had the best performance in Johannesburg.

Meanwhile, the report found that Cell C had significantly improved its network performance over the last year, increasing its average download speed from 28.70 Mb/s in the first quarter of 2023 to 39.32 Mb/s in the first quarter of 2024, which helped it to overtake Telkom and rank third behind MTN and Vodacom in network quality.