Newly released data from Speedtest Intelligence, which analysed the internet speed performance of four mobile service providers across ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa and published by Ookla Insights, reveals that Airtel delivered faster median download and upload speeds in Nigeria in Q2 2022.
Among the countries tested, South Africa produced the best speeds due to 5G deployment by operators.
According to the data, Airtel, Orange, MTN, and Vodacom command a combined majority of 62 per cent of total subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa. While the select ten countries account for 59 per cent of the region’s connections.
“As of Q2 2022, MTN Nigeria commanded 38.9 per cent of Nigeria’s mobile users, with its 74.1 million subscribers almost double that of Airtel’s 46.0 million. However, when looking at mobile performance, Airtel Nigeria was ahead of MTN,” Ookla notes.
In Q2 2022, Airtel Nigeria recorded a median download speed of 30.35 Mbps and a median upload speed of 10.28 Mbps, both of which outperformed MTN (26.30 Mbps download and 9.13 Mbps upload).
Ookla indicated that those speeds are set to increase as both operators have invested heavily into network infrastructure, with a combined investment of US$502 million. The investment translates into an increase in 4G Availability.
Regarding mobile speeds by country, the data reveals that South African operators came first thanks to having 5G networks in place. Vodacom got ahead of MTN in the country and was the fastest operator across the 12 cities, with a median download speed of 81.36 Mbps in Q2 2022 compared to 73.83 Mbps in Q1 2022.
