Vodacom says MTN and Cell C are cheating

Vodacom argues that a spectrum pooling agreement between MTN and Cell C is to blame for its recent drop in South African mobile network performance rankings.

MyBroadband Insights’ Q1 2025 Mobile Network Quality Report showed that Cell C overtook Vodacom to become the second-best network in South Africa during the first quarter of the year.

The report analysed 306,299 speed tests conducted by 6,999 mobile users across South Africa from 1 January to 31 March 2025, combining both crowdsourced and dedicated drive tests.

As has been the case for many years, MTN ranked first with a 9.92 Network Quality Score attributable to its 82.79Mbps average download speed, 29Mbps upload speed, and 29ms latency.

However, in an unusual turn, Cell C replaced Vodacom as the country’s second-best mobile network.

This is the first time Vodacom has dropped out of the top two places since MyBroadband’s Mobile Network Quality Reports began.

Cell C achieved slightly higher average download speeds than Vodacom — 63.95Mbps versus 61.36Mbps — and nearly double Vodacom’s average upload speeds — 26.67Mbps versus 13.48Mbps.

Cell C’s network has benefitted substantially from the shutdown of its own cellular tower equipment and migration of customers to a virtual radio access network hosted by MTN.

MyBroadband asked Vodacom for feedback on its performance in the latest report, especially considering that it was the only network whose download speeds were lower in Q1 2025 than in Q4 2024.

A Vodacom spokesperson told MyBroadband the company noted the “disproportionately” enhanced 4G performance results achieved by MTN and Cell C, particularly in terms of uplink throughput.

“It is important to emphasise that this is largely on the back of the spectrum-sharing arrangement between Cell C and MTN, which is currently under legal scrutiny,” the spokesperson said.

The “legal scrutiny” the spokesperson referred to is part of a court fight that Vodacom launched against the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) last year.

It concerns what Vodacom has alleged are unlawful spectrum pooling agreements between its competitors, which Icasa approved in 2022.

Deal allowed use of guard band spectrum

Vodacom argues that the regulator secretly allowed MTN to pool spectrum from Cell C and Liquid Intelligent Technologies with its own, giving it a major competitive edge.

“This was all done in secret, without any notice to Vodacom (or the public), and without any opportunity afforded to comment and make representations on whether this ought to be allowed,” Vodacom said.

The mobile network operator maintained that pooling agreements qualified as notifiable mergers, which must be lodged with the Competition Commission.

The legal action came after Vodacom conducted an internal investigation into why its network was underperforming against MTN.

Despite its infrastructure investments catching up to and eventually outpacing MTN’s in recent years, MTN has extended its lead since 2019.

Vodacom started becoming suspicious of MTN’s performance around March 2023, as the operator was completely pulling away from its peers in Africa.

Vodacom’s own testing showed that MTN was using a large portion of Cell C and Liquid’s spectrum and “guard band” spectrum put in place to prevent interference between spectrum licensees’ networks.

It maintained it was unlawful for MTN to use this spectrum as it was never assigned, regardless of whether it could pool together spectrum from either side of the guard bands.

The court case could potentially open up a can of worms around spectrum sharing and roaming agreements, including Vodacom’s lucrative deal with Rain.

Vodacom still the 5G king

Speaking on the latest network performance tests, Vodacom said it would “continue to advocate for fair competition and transparency within the industry while delivering cutting-edge technology and exceptional customer service.

“In the past financial year, Vodacom had invested around R11 billion in SA alone to support this growth.”

Vodacom has remained South Africa’s top network in 5G connectivity, where it holds a commanding lead over MTN. Cell C does not yet offer 5G services but hopes to do so soon.

Vodacom’s spokesperson said their 4G customers could still expect excellent service as it expanded its focus on 5G technology.

“With 5G set to become the dominant network for various customer applications, Vodacom is at the forefront of 5G leadership in South Africa,” they said.

“Looking ahead, we remain committed to driving innovation and delivering a superior customer experience in South Africa, as demonstrated by our investment in 5G network deployment.”