MTN has once again emerged as South Africa’s leading mobile voice network, outpacing Vodacom and others in the newly published 2025 Mobile Voice Network Quality Report by MyBroadband Insights. The report, produced from analysis of 34,323 test calls made throughout the nation between 20th May and 7th July 2025, identifies MTN’s leadership in call quality and reliability to retain its position as the country’s most reliable legacy call operator.
To compile the report, researchers carried out an extensive drive-test of more than 10,000 kilometres across large cities, small towns, and national roads. Five operators: MTN, Vodacom, Rain, Telkom, and Cell C were tested using premium smartphones with Keysight’s Nemo platform. This accommodated the latest mobile technologies and provided an unbiased, technology-agnostic assessment.
The study monitored four critical performance indicators (KPIs) that dictate voice call quality:
Call Setup Success Ratio (CSSR): successful rate of call connection.
Dropped Call Ratio (DCR): the rate of calls dropped after connection.
Call Setup Time (CST): time taken to connect a call.
Mean Opinion Score (MOS): an indication of voice quality and audio quality.
These were compared against the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) End-user and Subscriber Charter, and the results were compiled into a single overall score based on the ETSI scoring system used across Europe and other places.
MTN Leads, Vodacom Follows
The results placed MTN firmly at number one with 77.47 points, thanks to the highest call setup success ratio and the lowest dropped call percentage in the country. The synergy made it the most dependable network for call setup and sustaining calls.
Vodacom came second at 75.09 points, with the shortest call setup time of just 1.91 seconds. However, its slightly higher dropped call rate kept it behind MTN in overall ranking.
Rain and Telkom shared third place, each recording mid-60s points. Rain was praised for achieving the highest speech quality with an MOS of 4.48, while Telkom’s result was solid but lacking in category-leading strengths.
On the other end, Cell C had a dismal score of 34.09 points, with poor marks in all of connection times, clarity, and reliability.
Why traditional voice calls still matter
With the international emphasis on data-first services and the popularity of WhatsApp, Zoom, and other web-based applications, voice calls should theoretically be in decline. Yet in South Africa, nothing could be further from the case.
Millions of individuals, particularly in rural areas and places with spotty 4G or 5G coverage, continue to depend mainly on traditional calls. For them, a stable voice network is not a luxury but a requirement for work, family contact, and emergencies.
The report speaks simply: while data services are at the forefront of innovation, voice is a basic gauge of customer satisfaction. South Africans want their networks to give them crystal-clear, fault-free calls, regardless of how sophisticated their data services.
The 2025 results confirm the classic two-tier character of South Africa’s mobile market. MTN and Vodacom dominate the upper end of the market with consistent performance and vast resources, and Rain and Telkom exist as alternatives with selective strength. Cell C, however, continues to be severely challenged in keeping pace, evidenced by its declining subscriber base and resources.
Surprisingly, similar dynamics can be seen in other nations. For example, in Nigeria, Airtel and MTN tend to lead quality-of-service rankings, with lower-placed smaller operators following behind. In Europe, Vodafone tends to trail behind incumbents like Orange or Deutsche Telekom in unbiased tests.
South Africa continually expands 5G coverage, and operators are investing heavily in data-driven products. Yet, as this report shows, consumers still hold networks to account on the basics: whether they can make a clean call without it dropping. This is not South Africa in isolation; across the world, voice performance is still closely watched by operators while data powers revenue streams.
For MTN, the victory reflects its ability to blend innovation and stability. Vodacom’s robust performance confirms its competitiveness, while Rain and Telkom demonstrate how focused improvement can be rewarded even without the raw scale of the leaders. For Cell C, the result is another reminder of the tall mountain it has to climb to regain customers’ trust.
As the telecom business in South Africa continues to turn more digital, the one thing that’s always true is that voice calls are still the foundation of mobile communication. MTN leads the pack, says the 2025 Mobile Voice Network Quality Report, with Vodacom close behind and the rest of the industry scrambling to close the gap.