Telecommunications group MTN continues to maintain its top spot as South Africa’s best mobile network.

According to MyBroadband Insights’ third-quarter 2024 Mobile Network Quality Report, Vodacom maintained its position as the second-best operator, followed by Cell C, Telkom, and Rain.

The quarterly report, which is based on 296 277 speed tests performed by 6 989 mobile data users across South Africa between July 1 and September 30, showed that MTN secured a perfect Network Quality Score of 10.

This was followed by Vodacom with a Network Quality Score of 8.24, while Cell C scored 7.03, Telkom 4.51 and Rain 4.01.

MTN has the highest average download speed of 106.22 Mb/s, an upload speed of 32.54 Mb/s and latency of 27 ms, while Vodacom had an average download speed of 94.07 Mb/s, an upload speed of 17.07 Mb/s and latency of 29 ms.

MTN’s strong network performance resulted from average yearly investments of R10-billion in its network infrastructure for a decade, while Vodacom invested billions of Rands to expand its 5G network across South Africa, which enabled it to achieve the highest 5G speeds in South Africa.

The third-quarter 2024 Mobile Network Quality Report also showed that MTN dominated the overall network rankings in most major metropolitan areas, performing best in Tshwane, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay, and tied with Cell C in Ekurhuleni.

Vodacom performed best in eThekwini and Mangaung.

Meanwhile, in what the report indicated was the “biggest surprise” over the quarter under review was Cell C’s improvement, increasing its average download speed from 54.50 Mb/s to 68.12 Mb/s over the last three months.

Cell C’s upload speeds reached 27.84 Mb/s and it had latency of 37.

“Cell C is making good progress under its new CEO, Jorge Mendes. This includes optimising its virtual network, which runs on MTN’s network infrastructure,” the report said.

During the third quarter, Telkom had average download speeds of 39.72 Mb/s, upload speeds of 12.04 Mb/s and latency of 36; and Rain had download speeds of 23.14 Mb/s, upload speeds of 11.40 Mb/s and latency of 27.

The testing included data from crowdsourced users and dedicated drive tests, ensuring a balanced and accurate representation of real-world network performance.

As part of the dedicated drive tests, MyBroadband Insights covered 13 000 km and performed testing in South Africa’s major cities.

The dedicated drive tests used smartphones that support the latest technologies, as well as mid-range smartphones that replicate the experience of most users.