Visibiliti.ai study - Vodacom most visible in AI answers, but MTN receives more recommendations

Vodacom is one of South Africa’s most recognised and established mobile brands.

But being the network consumers know best does not necessarily make it the network AI recommends.

When South Africans ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity which mobile network they should choose, AI compares far more than brand awareness.

It considers network tests, coverage, pricing, consumer discussions, reliability, location and intended use.

Visibiliti.ai’s analysis of over 8,000 Ai answers suggests that Vodacom is winning the visibility battle, but MTN is more likely to win the final recommendation.

Vodacom appeared in 86% of network answers, but MTN was recommended more often

The Visibiliti.ai South African Mobile Network Visibility Benchmark examined how Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Cell C and Rain appeared across common consumer questions.

Vodacom was the most visible operator, appearing in 86% of relevant answers.

But MTN received the primary recommendation more often.

Vodacom wins “Which networks are available?” but loses ground when AI chooses the best fit for me.

Vodacom performed strongly when consumers asked broad questions such as:

• Which are South Africa’s biggest mobile networks?
• Which network has broad national coverage?
• Which provider is the safest premium choice?
• Which operators should I compare?

Its visibility across these prompts reached 92%.

Visibiliti tested a broad range of questions reflecting what consumers at this stage of the buying journey are likely to ask, including queries about speed, coverage, price, location, data usage and overall value.

When the platform assessed which network AI recommended as the best fit for each consumer’s specific needs, Vodacom’s recommendation rate fell to 39%.

Telkom is quietly becoming a serious AI recommendation

Telkom received the primary recommendation in 31% of answers, despite having considerably lower overall visibility than Vodacom and MTN.

Its strongest territory was value, which has slowly increase month on month, in our AI search results since the start of 2026.

Specifically, Telkom was recommended in 45% of prompts focused on affordable data, secondary SIMs and value-oriented mobile packages.The brand does not need AI to describe it as South Africa’s biggest network.

It needs AI to describe it as the smartest option for a particular type of customer.

This is where challenger brands can use GEO to compete with much larger advertising budgets.

Cell C may be improving faster than AI is changing its mind

Cell C appeared in 46% of answers but received the primary recommendation in only 15%.

More concerningly, 44% of its mentions contained a cautionary qualification relating to coverage, historical financial problems, roaming or reliability.

That creates an AI reputation lag.

Recent Opensignal research found that Cell C jointly won the Reliability Experience award alongside MTN and Vodacom. Separate analysis showed that Cell C achieved the largest improvement in Consistent Quality among the major operators over four reporting periods.

Its current performance story is improving, but its historical online reputation remains difficult to escape.

“CellC may be changing faster than Ai Search is updating its opinion of CellC.” explains the research team.

Most of the evidence came from outside network websites

Visibiliti.ai found that 68% of the sources influencing network recommendations came from sources the operators did not control.

These included:

• Independent network testing
• ICASA reports
• Technology publications
• Consumer forums
• Package-comparison websites
• Customer complaints

This leaves operators effectively blind to a major part of the customer journey. A network may invest heavily in a new advertising campaign, improved coverage or better pricing, but still fail to achieve the full impact if it does not understand and address the sources influencing AI search.

Without doing so, AI may continue recommending competitors based on an outdated network test, an old article or a negative forum discussion that no longer reflects the brand’s current offering.

The lost customer leaves no trace

When AI recommends MTN instead of Vodacom, or Telkom instead of both, the losing operator records:

• No website visit
• No abandoned application
• No failed sale
• No visible competitor conversion

The potential customer simply never arrives.

Traditional analytics cannot show why the operator was removed from consideration.

Vodacom may still be winning brand recognition.

But the next mobile-network battle will be decided earlier, inside the AI answer that interprets the customer’s needs and recommends which network is likely to deliver the best outcome.

The important question is no longer whether AI knows Vodacom exists.

It clearly does.

The more uncomfortable question is:

Why does Vodacom appear in 86% of network answers, but lose the final recommendation to MTN?

About the analysis

The Visibiliti.ai Visibility framework evaluates brand visibility, recommendation share, competitive positioning, source influence and the customer needs associated with each operator across leading AI answer engines.

Figures shown are based on results from over 8,000 tracked Ai answers across multiple Ai Search engines and follow the Visibiliti.ai research methodology.