Mobile analytics company, Opensignal has released a report analysing the mobile network experience in South Africa. The report, utilising 105,883 devices and recording over 259,426,348 measurements from 1 May to 29 July 2019, covers everything from 4G availability and download speed to the rate at which networks are maturing in the country.
Here are 4 key takeaways as released by Opensignal:
1. All four major network operators closing in on 80 per cent 4G Availability — MTN remains top of the leaderboard when it comes to 4G Availability measurements, with a score of 83.6 per cent. However, the three other operators are all now within 2 percentage points of the 80 per cent milestone — with Telkom’s users seeing the biggest increase of over 8 points since February.
Based on the current rate of improvement, Opensignal expects to see all four operators pass the 80 per cent mark in time for the next report.
2. MTN and Vodacom on the verge of a ‘Very Good’ video experience — MTN and Vodacom remain tied for the Video Experience award as both have increased their scores in the past six months, putting them on the cusp of Very Good (65-75) ratings. Cell C also increased its score to tip over into a Good ranking (55-65).
3. Download Speed Experience keeps improving, but Upload stalls — All four operators improved their Download Speed Experience scores by at least 1 Mbps. MTN and Vodacom both saw their scores rise by around 3 points since February. Cell C and Telkom remain in third and fourth place, but both saw larger increases — of 5 and 4 points respectively — to narrow the gap on the leaders.
Only one of the national operators saw any significant improvement in their Upload Speed Experience scores: Vodacom, which saw its score increase just over 6 per cent. The other three operators, Cell C, MTN and Telkom, statistically saw no movement in their scores.
4. Mobile networks are maturing in South Africa’s cities — MTN scored over 90 per cent in 4G Availability in two of South Africa’s biggest cities and was just shy of this milestone in the others. Meanwhile, MTN and Vodacom have now passed the 20 Mbps mark in Download Speed Experience in three cities each.
Edited by Jenna Cook
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