by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – SOUTH African smartphone users enjoy the fastest download speeds and the most consistent quality of mobile services in the continent.
They are also connecting to 4G and 5G services for the highest proportion of time.
Meanwhile, Morocco leads for Upload Speed, Games and Voice App Experience.
This is according to findings by Opensignal, which looked at the experience of smartphone users across the 15 markets with the highest numbers of unique mobile subscribers in Africa.
Opensignal analysis also demonstrates that in several African markets, more than 40 percent of smartphone users use the internet when connected to mobile services only (and not to Wi-Fi) — with Ghana seeing nearly 60 percent of mobile-only internet users.
3G is still the most commonly used mobile network technology in some African markets, with smartphone users in Angola and Ethiopia spending more than 40 percent of their time on 3G.
South Africa comes first for Download Speed Experience with the fastest download speeds.
Its Download Speed Experience score clocks in at 27.3Mbps — 16.8% faster than second-placed Morocco, Egypt and Kenya are in a statistical tie for third place, with scores of 16.2-16.3Mbps. Morocco leads for Upload Speed Experience, with a score of 7,5Mbps — beating Algeria by 1,3Mbps.
South Africa and Kenya jointly take third place, with scores of 5,7 to 5,8Mbps.
Smartphone users in South Africa enjoy the most consistent mobile network experience in Africa, as the market leads with a score of 50,9 percent.
This is 4,9 percentage points ahead of second-placed Egypt and 5,6 percentage points ahead of third-placed Morocco.
South Africa and Egypt are joint highest scorers for Video Experience with a score of 54,5 to 54,9 points on a 100-point scale.
Along with Morocco and Kenya, they rate as Fair (48-58) for video services.
Three North African markets are frontrunners for Games Experience. Morocco takes the top spot with a score of 56,7 points— commanding a lead of over 10 points over second-placed Egypt and of 16 points over Algeria.
Morocco also comes first for Voice App Experience with a score of 74,5 points.
Opensignal noted several markets in Africa had already deployed 5G networks.
South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya lead.
Opensignal noted the road to ubiquitous 5G in Africa is likely to be a long one, as access to 4G is still not universal and many users still rely on 2G and 3G networks to connect to the mobile internet.
“Opensignal will continue to analyze improvements in the African mobile network experience as 4G becomes commonplace and 5G grows from its current small base,” it stated.
– CAJ News