MTN still has the fastest mobile network overall in South Africa, though Vodacom has overtaken its rival in 5G speeds.
That’s according to latest research report from Ookla, the owner of the Speedtest.net internet speed-testing platform.
For the second half of 2024, Ookla found that MTN was the fastest mobile provider in South Africa for all technologies combined, earning it a score of 97.32.
MTN led on median download speed, recording 77.13Mbit/s, ahead of next-placed Vodacom, which recorded 55.95Mbit/s, and Cell C with 44.07Mbit/s. It also led the market on median upload speed, with 13.81Mbit/s, and the lowest latency – or network round-trip time – with 36 milliseconds.
MTN recorded the best mobile network consistency in South Africa, too, with 92.8% of its samples meeting or exceeding the threshold of 5Mbit/s download and 1Mbit/s upload. It also had the best 5G consistency in the market, with 87.7% of samples meeting or exceeding the threshold of 25Mbit/s download and 3Mbit/s upload.
However, Vodacom has overtaken MTN with the fastest 5G network in South Africa, with a speed score of 192.57.
ISPs ranked, too
“Vodacom led on median 5G download speed, recording 227.92Mbit/s, ahead of next-placed MTN, which recorded 172.51Mbit/s. Vodacom recorded a median 5G upload speed of 14.75Mbit/s, and a latency over 5G of 36ms.”
Ookla found that MTN had the:
- Fastest mobile network overall
- Most consistent mobile network
- Best 5G availability
- Best video experience
- Best gaming experience
Pretoria had the fastest median mobile download speed among South Africa’s most populous cities, recording 76.03Mbit/s on average. Bloemfontein was second, followed by Johannesburg.
Read: Study suggests South Africa is doing badly in 5G, digital readiness
At the other end of the scale, Soshanguve had the slowest median mobile download speed at 29.27Mbit/s, followed by Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
In fixed lines, MWeb was the leading internet service provider in the second half of 2024, scoring 64.62 in “overall connectivity score”, ahead of second-placed Vox and third-placed Afrihost.
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Cool Ideas was the fastest ISP in South Africa with a score of 83.81. Cool Ideas led on median download speed, recording 69.14Mbit/s, ahead of next-placed Afrihost, which recorded 54.72Mbit/s, and Axxess with 53.26Mbit/s.
Cool Ideas also led the market on median upload speed, with 65.77Mbit/s, and recorded an average latency of 8ms. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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