MTN has outperformed their regional rivals Airtel, Orange, and Vodacom across most sub-Saharan African markets in the first half of 2025, according to Speedtest Intelligence data. Among 19 operators examined, download speeds ranged from 14.8 Mbps for Vodacom in the DRC to 74.76 Mbps for MTN South Africa. Upload speeds varied between 6.15 Mbps for Airtel Kenya and 18.35 Mbps for Mascom Botswana, which is partly owned by MTN.
Analysis of network availability showed that operators with higher 4G and 5G connectivity delivered stronger overall performance, indicating wider coverage and greater user adoption of advanced services. South Africa, Botswana, Uganda, and Kenya led in 5G reach, while limited rollouts in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and the DRC kept speeds relatively low. Airtel and Vodacom units in Tanzania and Kenya also lagged due to sparse 5G coverage.
Despite not launching 5G commercially, Orange Côte d’Ivoire achieved competitive performance, while MTN Côte d’Ivoire and operators in DRC stayed below 25 Mbps download speeds. MTN’s operations in Uganda, Nigeria, and Botswana posted standout 5G results with download speeds above 200 Mbps — the only ones to do so. In contrast, Airtel and Vodacom units in Tanzania and Kenya had 5G speeds between 60 Mbps and 130 Mbps.
Regionally, Southern African operators outperformed their Eastern and Western African peers, with median download speeds above 45 Mbps. Eastern Africa trailed slightly but still outperformed Western Africa, where the highest was 35.25 Mbps logged by Orange Côte d’Ivoire.
Kenya
Safaricom outperformed Airtel Kenya in both 5G and overall mobile performance during the first half of 2025, with significantly higher download and upload speeds. Kenya remains a key market for both operators, supported by a mature digital and financial ecosystem. Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya showed 76.2 million mobile subscribers in March 2025, reflecting 145.3 percent population penetration and a net gain of 4.8 million SIMs since December 2024. With 42.3 million smartphone users and 57.1 million mobile data users, 4G remains dominant with 36.3 million connections, while over 1.1 million users accessed 5G.
Safaricom, which controls 62.9 percent of the mobile market compared with Airtel’s 32.7 percent, has been expanding its 4G and 5G networks while investing $500 million in AI infrastructure across East Africa from 2025 to 2028. Airtel, in turn, has focused on network expansion, announcing $77 million to add 480 new 4G and 5G sites and extend population coverage from 89 percent to 94 percent by the end of 2025.
Speedtest data showed Safaricom’s 4G and 5G network availability slightly below Airtel’s, but its performance was far superior. Safaricom’s median download and upload speeds across all technologies stood at 43 Mbps and 15.11 Mbps, more than 2.4 times faster than Airtel’s. On 5G specifically, Safaricom reached median download speeds of 183.26 Mbps and upload speeds of 27.12 Mbps — about triple those of Airtel during H1 2025.
Tanzania
Tanzania’s mobile market reached 91.7 million active subscribers by June 2025, excluding M2M connections, with 53.8 million using mobile data services. Vodacom led with a 32.1 percent market share, followed by Yas (formerly Tigo) with 28.1 percent, and Airtel in third place with 22.4 percent. Vodacom’s acquisition of Smile Communications in early 2024 strengthened its spectrum holdings, facilitating 4G expansion and 5G deployment. By FY 2025, Vodacom’s 4G population coverage stood at 72.5 percent, while Airtel’s reached 81 percent through active participation in government-led connectivity initiatives under the Universal Communications Service Access Fund.
Nationwide 4G coverage hit 92 percent in Tanzania by mid-2025, serving nearly 24 million users, while 5G coverage remained limited to 26 percent, reaching 1.3 million subscribers, or 2.4 percent of the mobile data base. Speedtest Intelligence data showed Vodacom holding a narrow lead in download speed at 21.42 Mbps versus Airtel’s 19.58 Mbps. Vodacom also dominated in 5G Availability at 26.4 percent, far surpassing Airtel’s 2.8 percent.
However, Airtel outperformed Vodacom in 5G network speed, achieving 130.35 Mbps in download speed and 18.7 Mbps in uploads, compared to Vodacom’s 89.09 Mbps and 12.11 Mbps, respectively. Despite Vodacom’s broader 5G presence, Airtel delivered better 5G performance per user connection in H1 2025.
Uganda
Uganda’s mobile market, dominated by MTN and Airtel, had 44.6 million total mobile subscribers and 43.2 million active users as of March 2025, according to the Uganda Communications Commission. The country had 18.4 million smartphone users, reflecting strong demand for data services. MTN held roughly half of the market with 22 million subscribers in 2024 and invested $110 million to enhance its network, expanding its fiber backhaul capacity by nearly 50 percent. In March 2025, MTN and Airtel signed an infrastructure-sharing agreement in Uganda, with talks underway to extend similar arrangements to the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Zambia.
Speedtest Intelligence data showed that both operators had comparable 4G Availability at around 90 percent, while Airtel’s 5G Availability reached 59.3 percent, ahead of MTN’s 42.8 percent. However, MTN outperformed Airtel across all technologies, achieving faster median download and upload speeds. MTN Uganda ranked first among East African operators and fifth overall for median download speeds. On 5G, MTN maintained a notable lead with a median download speed of 235.22 Mbps compared to Airtel’s 160.21 Mbps, and one of the region’s highest upload speeds at 27 Mbps.
Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo had 63.7 million active mobile subscribers and 33.65 million mobile internet users in the first quarter of 2025, according to the telecom regulator ARPTC. Vodacom led with 36.9 percent of subscribers, followed by Airtel with 29.8 percent and Orange with 27.2 percent. Despite being the second-largest operator by subscribers, Airtel generated the highest internet revenue share at 41.8 percent, worth $120 million in Q1 2025, indicating a stronger ARPU from data services.
Vodacom’s 4G population coverage remained limited at 39.8 percent in FY 2025, but the operator partnered with Orange to deploy 2,000 solar-powered rural base stations to expand coverage. Airtel, meanwhile, secured a $70 million loan from the IFC in early 2025 to expand its 4G and 5G networks, part of a broader $100 million funding package that includes its Rwandan operations.
Speedtest Intelligence data showed Orange leading in 4G Availability and median download speeds, reaching 24.22 Mbps in H1 2025, while Airtel posted better upload speeds. However, the absence of commercial 5G services and limited 4G reach reduced the competitiveness of DRC’s operators regionally, leaving Airtel and Vodacom at the lower end of speed rankings across sub-Saharan Africa.
South Africa
South Africa remains the most advanced and competitive telecom market in Africa, supported by strong demand for data and enterprise services despite economic challenges. As of September 2024, the country had 116.8 million mobile subscribers and 82.7 million smartphone users, according to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. Vodacom led the market with a 39.1 percent subscriber share, followed by MTN with 30.7 percent.
5G services were first introduced in 2020 under emergency spectrum allocations, and the 2022 spectrum auction distributed new frequencies across 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 2.6 GHz, and 3.5 GHz bands. By the end of 2024, 5G population coverage had expanded to 46.6 percent, while 4G coverage exceeded 82 percent. Vodacom plans to invest $1.1 billion in FY 2025/26 to expand 5G reach and rural coverage under its Vision 2030 strategy. MTN also announced regional investments totaling over $50 million across the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal to modernize and secure its network infrastructure.
Based on Speedtest data, Vodacom had slightly higher 4G Availability at 94.8 percent but lower 5G Availability at 37.8 percent. MTN outperformed Vodacom on overall performance, achieving median download and upload speeds of 74.76 Mbps and 13.65 Mbps, respectively, placing both in the top four operators in sub-Saharan Africa. However, Vodacom led in 5G performance with median download and upload speeds of 174.9 Mbps and 11.86 Mbps, compared with MTN’s 164.2 Mbps and 21.68 Mbps. This performance advantage stems from Vodacom’s broader 5G spectrum bandwidth and its focus on network densification in urban areas.
Nigeria
Nigeria remained Africa’s largest mobile market with 169.3 million mobile subscribers as of July 2025, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission. MTN led with a 52.7 percent market share, followed by Airtel with 33.4 percent. The sector continues to face economic and operational challenges, including currency depreciation, inflation, fuel shortages, vandalism, and regional instability, all of which affect network expansion. Despite these headwinds, MTN committed to investing $3.5 billion in Nigeria between 2023 and 2028 and entered a network infrastructure-sharing agreement with Airtel to boost coverage and efficiency.
MTN was the first to launch 5G services in the country, followed by Airtel and Mafab Communications. By mid-2025, 5G accounted for just 3.2 percent of Nigeria’s total mobile base. Speedtest Intelligence reported MTN’s 5G Availability at 15.8 percent versus Airtel’s 4.6 percent, while MTN’s 4G Availability stood at 91.2 percent compared with Airtel’s 89.9 percent. These advantages translated into superior network performance for MTN, which recorded median download and upload speeds more than twice those of Airtel.
Although MTN’s overall download speed placed it in the midrange among surveyed African operators, Airtel Nigeria ranked second-lowest at 17.44 Mbps, only ahead of Vodacom DRC. The 5G gap was narrower, with MTN achieving 226.59 Mbps median download speed compared with Airtel’s 182.6 Mbps. MTN Nigeria emerged as West Africa’s fastest 5G operator in the first half of 2025.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
