Mombasa is the place you will experience the fastest internet on your smartphone in Kenya, a survey by global network testing and data analytics firm Ookla through its Speedtest tool has revealed.
The study, Kenya’s Mobile and Fixed Broadband Internet Speeds, was conducted in April, May and June and indicates that netizens in the coastal hub enjoy an average mobile upload internet speed of 32.12 Megabytes per second (Mbps) followed by Nairobi at 21.79 Mbps.
Urban and peri-urban residents of Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret respectively download content from the internet at speeds of 21.02 Mbps, 19.41Mbps and 13.72 Mbps.
Mombasa also leads in mobile upload speeds at 17.13Mbps, followed by Nairobi at 13.27 Mbps, Nakuru at 12.65 Mbps, Eldoret at 10.11 Mbps and Kisumu at 8.95 Mbps.
In terms of latency – the delay in the transfer of data – Mombasa tops at 35 milliseconds while Nairobi and Nakuru tie at 37 milliseconds. Eldoret follows at 41 milliseconds while Kisumu has the highest delay among major towns at 49 milliseconds.
Across the country, Speedtest ranks Safaricom the fastest mobile internet provider at 27.54Mbps, followed by Airtel at 17.48 Mbps, Faiba at 14.38 Mbps while Telkom, which has the most affordable mobile internet in Kenya, offers a speed of 8.17 Mbps.
"In measuring the consistency of each operator’s performance, we found that Safaricom had the highest consistency score in Kenya during Quarter Two of 2021, with 84 per cent of results showing at least a 5 Mbps minimum download speed and 1 Mbps minimum upload speed," says the report.
Latency
However, after calculating the average latency for top mobile providers in the country, Faiba topped at 27 milliseconds with Safaricom coming third.
"Faiba is followed by Telkom at 33 milliseconds, Safaricom at 37 milliseconds and Airtel at 38 milliseconds."
For mobile internet users, the research found that the average download speed in Kenya was 22.37 Mbps while the upload speed was 13.27 Mbps with a latency of 37 milliseconds.For home or fixed internet users, the average speed is 23.51 Mbps when downloading content, 20.16 Mbps when uploading, with a delay of 33 milliseconds signalling a better internet experience than mobile users."Faiba has the fastest fixed broadband provider among top providers with a speed score of 23.19 Mbps, followed by Safaricom at 11.51 Mbps, Telkom at 9.03 Mbps, Unwired Communications Limited at 8.83 Mbps and Internet Solutions at 7.75 Mbps."In measuring the consistency of each fixed broadband provider’s performance, […]
