MTN has retained its position as South Africa’s highest-ranked mobile network operator overall, winning or sharing 10 of the 16 awards in Opensignal’s November 2026 assessment.
The assessment was based on measurements collected from users’ devices between 1 July and 28 September 2026. MTN recorded an average download speed of 56.4 Mbps, ahead of Vodacom at 49.3 Mbps and Telkom at 25.1 Mbps.
MTN also led in average upload speed and consistent quality, recording a consistent quality score of 71.9%. This was higher than Cell C’s 66.9%.
Vodacom, however, led the 5G download rankings with an average speed of 231.1 Mbps, which was 58.2% faster than MTN’s 146.1 Mbps. It also recorded an average 5G upload speed of 26.1 Mbps.
In reliability performance, Cell C narrowly outscored MTN in overall reliability, recording 904 points against MTN’s 901. Telkom achieved the highest 5G reliability score at 948 points.
Rain recorded the highest proportion of time spent connected to 5G, with its subscribers connected for 49.4% of the time, compared with 15.1% for MTN users. The difference reflects Rain’s 5G-centred operating model.
MTN’s overall performance comes after the operator reduced its network capital expenditure in South Africa by 17.1% during the six months to June 2026.
The findings highlight differences in network performance across South Africa’s mobile operators, with MTN leading overall results while competitors recorded stronger outcomes in selected 5G and reliability measures.
