MyBroadband Insights speed test data revealed which telecommunications equipment vendors were used in the best-performing networks in South Africa.
MyBroadband analysed Q2 2026 speed test data to compare South Africa’s major telecoms equipment vendors.
The results are based on more than 360,000 speed tests conducted by mobile users across South Africa during the second quarter of 2026.
The testing included a combination of crowdsourced data and dedicated drive tests, providing a comprehensive assessment of mobile network performance.
The MyBroadband Speed Test apps provide users with their download speed, upload speed, latency, and signal strength. After receiving their results, they can rate their satisfaction on a five-star scale.
MyBroadband’s speed test servers are hosted in Teraco’s vendor-neutral data centres to ensure a neutral testing environment.
NAPAfrica provides all network operators at its peering points a free 10Gbps connection to the MyBroadband Speed Test platform.
The data from these tests is downsampled per unique user to ensure that no individual user has more influence on the result than any other.
The MyBroadband Speed Test app is free to download from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Both apps recently received a significant upgrade.
Mobile operators generally use equipment from different vendors for different areas, which allows comparison between vendors on the same network.
While there is a difference in performance between radio access vendor equipment, other factors also impact the performance.
Core network architecture, backhaul capacity, and network optimisation may influence performance.
It is also dependent on the investment of mobile operators in specific areas. For example, operators will typically spend more on networks in cities, which translates into higher speeds.
Even with these factors in mind, seeing how the different vendors compare on speed is interesting.
Vodacom uses equipment from both Huawei and Nokia, with Nokia equipment delivering slightly better download speeds, while Huawei equipment offers better upload speeds.
VendorAverage Download Speed (Mbps)Average Upload Speed (Mbps)Average Latency (ms)Nokia127.4819.1828.35Huawei118.2324.5330.4
MTN uses Huawei, ZTE, and Ericsson equipment across different areas of the country.
The areas covered by ZTE had the best average download speeds, while Huawei once again offered the best upload speeds.
VendorAverage Download Speed (Mbps)Average Upload Speed (Mbps)Average Latency (ms)ZTE112.7533.5827.55Huawei105.2134.0329.15Ericsson96.8227.6837.01
Rain uses the same equipment as Vodacom, with its Huawei equipment offering better speeds across the board compared to areas using Nokia equipment.
VendorAverage Download Speed (Mbps)Average Upload Speed (Mbps)Average Latency (ms)Huawei24.3511.3724.76Nokia19.7410.9832.81
Telkom uses only Huawei equipment in its network, which delivered solid download speeds and low latency.
VendorAverage Download Speed (Mbps)Average Upload Speed (Mbps)Average Latency (ms)Huawei65.1412.7729.75
