In South Africa, Huawei dominates mobile network speeds

According to Analytico statistics, residents in locations covered by Huawei’s radio equipment had the fastest download and upload rates.

The study is based on MyBroadband speed test app users’ testing and controlled driving tests done throughout 2022.

To ensure carrier-neutral testing, MyBroadband’s speed test servers are hosted at Teraco’s vendor-neutral data centres.

At NAPAfrica peering locations, all network operators enjoy a free 10Gbps access to the MyBroadband speed test platform.

We utilised speed test results from 2022 to calculate the average speeds and latencies received by South African mobile operators from network equipment providers Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, and ZTE.

Huawei leads mobile network speeds in South Africa.

Residents in areas covered by Huawei’s radio infrastructure had the quickest download and upload rates, according to Analytico figures.

The report is based on testing done by MyBroadband speed test app users and controlled driving tests conducted throughout 2022.

MyBroadband’s speed test servers are hosted at Teraco’s vendor-neutral data centres to assure carrier-neutral testing.

All network operators in NAPAfrica peering sites get free 10Gbps access to the MyBroadband speed test platform.

We calculated the average speeds and latencies obtained by South African mobile operators from network equipment vendors Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, and ZTE using speed test data from 2022.

MTN

MTN is South Africa’s first mobile operator to utilise more than two radio equipment providers. Huawei dominated the download and upload speeds of its three vendors — Huawei, Ericsson, and ZTE.

ZTE, which had the slowest download and upload speeds for MTN, had the lowest latency.

Vodacom

Vodacom’s network is powered by Huawei and Nokia radio equipment. Huawei’s equipment had the fastest download and upload speeds, while Nokia had somewhat lower latency.

Telkom

Huawei radio equipment powers Telkom’s complete network. Its network performance is inferior than that of MTN and Vodacom, but it outperformed Rain.

Rain

Rain utilises the same wireless technology as Vodacom — Huawei and Nokia. Rain customers in Huawei-equipped regions had faster download and upload speeds. Nokia once again supplied somewhat lower latency.

Vendor performance summary