Opensignal, which provides intelligence on the real-world performance of mobile networks, has found that in a comparison between South Africa’s two largest mobile operators, MTN tops rival Vodacom in 5G availability and 5G upload speeds.

However, the two operators draw equal on other measures, including 5G download speeds, 5G video experience, 5G gaming experience and 5G voice app experience.

It’s the first time that Opensignal, an independent analytics company headquartered in London, has analysed the mobile experiences of South African 5G mobile users.

In its report, Opensignal found that MTN “triumphs” in 5G availability, with a score of 9.8% — 6.1 percentage points ahead of Vodacom.

“On top of this, MTN claims the 5G upload speed category, with a score of 22.9Mbit/s — and a winning margin of 6.6Mbit/s over its rival. However, we saw four statistical ties between MTN and Vodacom across the remaining 5G awards.”

5G deployments are likely to accelerate in South Africa following the auction in March by communications regulator Icasa of various broadband spectrum bands, some of which operators plan to use for 5G deployments, Opensignal said.

It noted that MTN plans to cover 25% of South Africa’s population with 5G by the end of 2022 and 60% by 2025, while it also intends to retire its 3G network in the next few years, to focus on 4G and 5G technologies.

‘Sunsetting’

“MTN’s plans for 3G ‘sunsetting’ are aligned with other South African operators aiming to free up 2G and 3G spectrum for 4G and 5G deployments — and these plans are supported by the South African government, which intends to ban the importation and distribution of 2G-only devices by March 2023,” it said.

For the market overall – in other words, not taking only 5G into account – Opensignal found that Vodacom was the winner in the “overall experience” categories, namely video experience, games experience and voice app experience. It also named the network that provides the most consistent quality.

That said, South African users saw the fastest average overall speeds on MTN’s network, with the operator winning both the download and upload speed experience categories.

“Our South African users saw the fastest average overall download and upload speeds on MTN’s network. The operator wins download speed experience outright, with a score of 27.7Mbit/s — commanding a lead of 2.8Mbit/s, or 11.3%, over second-placed Vodacom,” Opensignal said.