by SAVIOUS KWINIKA 
JOHANNESBURG – MTN’s R50-billion infrastructure investment over the past five years is paying off after the operator was again adjudged the best mobile network in South Africa for a quarter year.

The company has been rated highest in the MyBroadband Insights Q1 (first quarter) 2021 Mobile Network Quality Report

The report is based on 349 575 speed tests which were performed by thousands of MyBroadband Speed Test App users across South Africa between January 1 and March 31 .

The research shows that South Africa had an average mobile download speed of 33,23Mbps and an average upload speed of 12,71Mbps.

MTN had the highest average download speed at 64,29Mbps, followed by Vodacom on 32,76Mbps, Telkom on 27,83Mbps, Cell C on 20,82Mbps and Rain on 10,58Mbps.

Surveyors attributed MTN’s performance to the multibillion-rand investment to extend coverage, improve network quality and increase speeds.

MyBroadband noted the average speed of all mobile operators – except for Rain – was significantly higher than a year ago.

This was possible despite a significant increase in traffic.

The reason is the temporary spectrum which was issued to mobile operators during the lockdown.

“This temporary spectrum helped mobile networks to increase their network capacity and improve their average speeds during the lockdown,” MyBroadband stated.

To determine the best mobile network in South Africa, a “Network Quality Score” was calculated for each network using 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 received a Network Quality Score of 9,73, followed by Vodacom on 5,65, Telkom on 5,17, Cell C on 4,36, and Rain on 3,40.

– CAJ News