MTN and Cell C share co-leadership in South Africa's overall mobile ranking, with MTN posting the highest Download speed (Mb/s) at 41.3 Mbps and Cell C maintaining the best Latency (ms) for the fifth consecutive year.
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MTN and Cell C have shared co-leadership in an intensely competitive South Africa mobile market this year, with MTN posting the highest download speed at 41.3 Mbps and Cell C maintaining the best latency (ms) for the fifth consecutive year.
The latest nPerf annual mobile barometer for South Africa, which covered the year to end March 2026, also showed that there has been broad-based improvement across all the operators in download speeds.
nPerf is an independent French Internet performance measurement platform, powered by user experience, which helps operators improve their networks and contributes to building a faster, more reliable internet. Latency refers to the delay between sending and receiving data over a mobile network.
Cell C recorded a 15% improvement in upload speed (MB/s) overall, versus the previous period, while Vodacom claimed first place in web browsing (%) and YouTube streaming (%) for the first time, signaling gains in everyday user experience.
Authors of the barometer said that the results revealed an “intensely competitive market” where leadership is being contested across every performance indicator and download speeds have progressed across the board.
MTN finished first overall, for the first time. It recorded the highest download speed (Mb/s) overall at 41.26 Mb/s and led upload speed (Mb/s) at 11.19 Mb/s — both category firsts for the operator. MTN also topped web browsing (%) overall for the first time, confirming that its network improvements were translating into real-world user experience gains.
The latest nPerf annual mobile barometer for South Africa, which covered the year to end March 2026 showed there has been broad-based improvement across all the operators in download speeds.
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In the 4G segment specifically, MTN claimed the best download speed (Mb/s) at 31,65 Mb/s, again a first, underlining the depth of its network investment cycle.
Cell C’s co-leadership overall with MTN this year was reinforced by its dominance in the metrics that matter most to everyday users.
The operator led overall on latency (ms) — it's best in five consecutive years — as well as web browsing (%) and YouTube streaming (%), both held for five years running. A notable development this year for the operator was a strong improvement in upload speed (Mb/s) overall, up 15% over the previous period.
“This is a sign that Cell C's network is maturing across multiple dimensions. Its overall score has also followed a steady upward trend across all five years of available data, reflecting long-term structural progress,” the survey reported.
Telkom finished fourth overall with a score of 27,627 nPoints, ranking second on latency (ms) both overall and in the 4G segment.
Vodacom had a score of 45,488 nPoints, claiming first place overall in web browsing (%) and YouTube streaming (%) for the first time.
“These category wins signal that Vodacom's network is delivering a quality browsing and streaming experience that competes directly with the sector's leading operators, even as the gap in raw speed metrics remains. Reducing its overall latency (ms), currently at 84.2 ms, will be a key lever to mount a closer challenge at the top,” the authors of the barometer said.
“The operator faces a significant gap on speed and usage metrics relative to the top three and closing that distance will be essential to strengthen its competitive standing in an increasingly demanding market,” they said.
“The South African market is entering a new phase of competition, where leadership is no longer defined by a single metric, but by the ability to deliver consistent performance across the full range of user experience indicators,” said nPerf President Renaud Keradec in a statement.
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