MTN Network Hits 117 Mbps in Richmond as Rural South Africa Matches Urban Fibre Speeds

Historic Karoo town Richmond matches fibre performance with 117 Mbps mobile speeds on MTN’s network, according to new MyBroadband Insights.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 6, 2026, 4:30 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from MyBroadband

Exceptional Mobile Performance in the Rural Karoo

The historic town of Richmond, situated in the Northern Cape Province, has emerged as a high-performance outlier in the latest national mobile network benchmarks. According to the Q1 2026 MyBroadband Insights research report, MTN’s 4G network delivered an average download speed of 117 Mbps within the village. This level of connectivity, recorded between January and March 2026, effectively bridges the digital divide by offering rural residents speeds typically reserved for urban households with dedicated fibre-to-the-home installations.

Rigorous Data Collection Through Performance Testing

These findings are the result of extensive real-world testing conducted via the MyBroadband Android speed test app. The quarterly report analyzed 316,000 individual performance tests across South Africa, providing a comprehensive view of the country’s telecommunications landscape. In Richmond, specifically, the data showed that MTN reached average download speeds of 116.65 Mbps and upload speeds of 20.42 Mbps, maintaining a steady latency of roughly 36 ms, which indicates a highly responsive and stable network environment.

Competitive Landscape Among South African Carriers

While MTN led the performance rankings in the region, other major South African telecommunications providers also demonstrated robust infrastructure capabilities in the heart of the Karoo. Telkom followed with a strong average download speed of 98 Mbps, while Vodacom and Cell C recorded speeds of 81 Mbps and 65 Mbps respectively. This competitive density in a town with a population of just over 5,000 underscores the quality of the national network backbone, which supports high-speed data access even in geographically isolated inland plateaus.