Safaricom and Faiba Ranked The Fastest Mobile and Broadband Providers

Ookla, also known as Speedtest.net, is a web platform that providers free analysis of internet performance metrics, including speeds and latency.

The platform has released some key insights about internet metrics in Kenya in a Q1 Market Report.

The main points from the report include the following:

1. Safaricom had the fastest Speed Score among mobile providers in Kenya during Q1 2021 at 29.80 as well as the top mobile Consistency Score (86.3%) and highest 4G Availability (88.1%).

2. Mombasa had the fastest mean mobile download speed at 27.79 Mbps while Nairobi was the fastest over fixed broadband with a download speed of 22.65 Mbps.
3. Faiba had the fastest fixed broadband Speed Score at 22.70 and best Consistency Score at 44.0%.

More details about the fastest mobile operators are based on tests performed on four carriers: Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom and Faiba.

As said, Safaricom led the pack with a Speed Score of 29.80. It was then followed by Airtel, Faiba, and Telkom at 17.80, 12.33 and 7.12, respectively.

Ookla has also revealed latency stats (the time taken for data to get to its destination across a network) for Kenya’s providers during the first quarter of 2021.

Faiba had the lowest latency at 31 ms. It was followed by Airtel, Telkom and Safaricom at 32, 35 and 36 ms respectively.

That’s not all; the platform has also revealed the Consistency Score for the carrier. As expected, Safaricom leads the group with a Score of 86.3%.

1. Safaricom – 86.3%.
2.  Airtel – 79.6%
3. Faiba – 60.5%
4. Telkom – 50.7%

While these carriers offer 4G services, the best connections were provided by Safaricom. at

1. Safaricom – 88.1%
2. Airtel at 78.6%

Other operators were not ranked.

So, which were the fastest phones in terms of download, upload speeds and latency? Well, they all are made by Apple and rank as follows:

1. iPhone XS Max (download: 38.39 Mbps; upload: 16.87 Mbps)
2. iPhone 11 Pro Max (download: 38.12 Mbps; upload: 17.91 Mbps)
3. iPhone 11 Pro (download: 36.38 Mbps; upload: 17.22 Mbps)
4. iPhone X (download: 32.68 Mbps; upload: 16.41 Mbps)
5. iPhone 11 (download: 30.56 Mbps; upload: 16.81 Mbps)

Referring to the main points above, Mombasa registered the highest mean mobile download speeds among Kenya’s most populous cities.

1. Mombasa – Download at 27.79 Mbps
2. Nairobi – Download at 24.60 Mbps
3. Nakuru – Download at 21.60 Mbps
4. Kisumu – Download at 19.64 Mbps
5. Eldoret – Download at 19.26 Mbps

For fixed broadband connections, Faiba was the fastest with a Speed Score of 22.70.

1. Faiba – 22.70
2. Safaricom – 12.73
3. Unwired Communications Limited – 12.12
4. Telkom – 10.32
5. AccessKenya – 7.89

Ookla has also calculated the mean latency for top broadband providers at the time of the review.

1. Unwired Communications Limited – 17 ms
2. Faiba – 23 ms
3. Telkom – 30 ms
4. Safaricom – 35 ms
5. AccessKenya – 46 ms

Faiba has the highest consistency score in Q1, and is ranked as follows among rivals:

1. Faiba – 44.0%
2. Unwired Communications Limited – 21.2%
3. Safaricom – 20.0%
4. Telkom – 19.4%
5. AccessKenya – 12.0%

Lastly are broadband city speeds, of which Nairobi leads this time around:

1. Nairobi – Down: 22.65 Mbps
2. Eldoret – Down: 20.44 Mbps
3. Mombasa – Down: 19.25 Mbps
4. Kisumu – Down: 15.68 Mbps
5. Nakuru – Down: 14.19 Mbps