Airtel Nigeria is said to have overtaken MTN Nigeria in internet speed in the second quarter (Q2) of 2022.
Data from speedtest intelligence after analyzing the internet speed of four mobile service providers in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, revealed that Airtel Nigeria provided faster median download and upload speeds in Nigeria in the second quarter.
After the Sub-Saharan Africa Internet Speed Test analysis, South Africa came out on top of the country with the best Internet speed thanks to the deployment of 5G technology by different operators in the country.
In the country, Johannesburg leads the pack of cities with the fastest internet speed, with a median download speed of 66.54 Mbps, followed by Cape Town at an upload speed of 49.22 Mbps.
The four telecom operators selected for testing were -MTN, Airtel, Vodacom and Orange, which held a combined majority of 62% of total subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa. While the 10 selected countries accounted for 59% of connections in the region.
In a head-to-head performance between Airtel and MTN in the three countries in which they operate, Airtel overtook MTN in Nigeria in both median upload and download speed in Q2 2022, while in Uganda and in Rwanda, there were no winners.
In terms of users, in the second quarter of 2022, MTN Nigeria controlled 38.9% of Nigeria’s mobile users with its 74.1 million subscribers almost double Airtel’s 46.0 million.
Yet when it comes to mobile performance, Airtel Nigeria was ahead of MTN. Airtel Nigeria in 2021, was rated the fastest network in the telecommunications broadband category.
In the second quarter of this year, the telecommunications company recorded a median download speed of 30.35 Mbps and a median upload speed of 10.28 Mbps, both higher than those of MTN (26.30 Mbps download and 9.13 Mbps download).
These speeds are expected to increase as the two companies have invested heavily in network infrastructure, with a combined investment of 208.5 billion naira ($502 million).
The investment also results in an increase in the availability of 4G. In the second quarter of 2022, MTN had 4G availability of 83.8% compared to 77.9% for Airtel.
It should be remembered that king of investors had recently reported that MTN had launched its 5G technology in Nigeria as it promises to change communication forever.
