Rain or Rain (Pty) Ltd is a South African
mobile communications
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobil ...
company, providing
voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound produ ...
,
messaging
A message is a unit of communication that conveys information from a sender to a receiver. It can be transmitted through various forms, such as spoken or written words, signals, or electronic data, and can range from simple instructions to co ...
,
data
Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...
, and
converged services.
History
Rain (Pty) Ltd launched in February 2018, and began providing data only services using 3,000 of their own
cell towers
A cell site, cell phone tower, cell base tower, or cellular base station is a cellular-enabled mobile device site where antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed (typically on a radio mast, tower, or other raised structure) ...
and by leasing infrastructure from
Vodacom
Vodacom Group Limited is a South African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 130 million customers across Africa.
From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to ...
and
MTN.
Clients who were interested on using the services create an online profile and the SIM card would be delivered by CCD Couriers.
In June 2020, rain announced the addition of 1,500
5G standalone towers to be launched in 2021.
Technology
Rain provides
4G and
LTE
LTE may refer to:
Science and technology
* LTE (telecommunication) (Long-Term Evolution), a mobile telephony standard
** LTE Advanced, an enhancement
** LTE Advanced Pro, a further enhancement
* Compaq LTE, a line of laptop computers
* Leukotrie ...
services through a partnership that enables the company to use infrastructure owned by
Vodacom
Vodacom Group Limited is a South African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 130 million customers across Africa.
From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to ...
and
MTN. They launched the first Standalone
5G (3600) network in the country, powered by
Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei" sometimes stylized as "HUAWEI"; ; zh, c=华为, p= ) is a Chinese multinational corporationtechnology company in Longgang, Shenzhen, Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Its main product lines include teleco ...
infrastructure.
Rain's Standalone
5G is currently available in major metropolitan areas around the country.
Controversies
Ban claiming “Unlimited Data 24/7 on 5G”
In August 2020, the advertising appeal committee of the advertising regulatory bureau banned rain from claiming unlimited
5G 24/7 after receiving multiple complaints from the public.
Spectrum arrangements
In October 2021,
Telkom has approached
Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is an independent regulatory body of the South African government, established in 2000 by the ICASA Act to regulate both the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the publ ...
(
ICASA
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is an independent regulatory body of the South African government, established in 2000 by the ICASA Act to regulate both the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the publ ...
) to report spectrum arrangements between competitors
Vodacom
Vodacom Group Limited is a South African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 130 million customers across Africa.
From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to ...
and Rain.
Telkom argues
Vodacom's ability to control Rain's spectrum entrenches its position as a dominant player in a highly concentrated market. An investigation is still underway.
Ownership
See also
*
Telephone numbers in Africa
*
Telephone numbers in South Africa
Telephone numbers in South Africa are administered by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. On 16 January 2007, the country switched to a closed numbering plan. It became mandatory to dial the full nine-digit national te ...
*
MTN (South Africa)
MTN Group Limited (formerly M-Cell) is a South African multinational corporation and mobile telecommunications provider. Its head office is in Johannesburg. MTN is among the largest mobile network operators in the world, and the largest in ...
*
Cell C
Cell C is a mobile telecommunications company operating in South Africa, offering voice, data, messaging, and mobile virtual network operator
A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does no ...
*
Telkom Mobile
Telkom (formerly known as 8.ta from 18 October 2010 till 19 March 2013 and as Telkom Mobile From 19 March 2013 till 2014), is a South African mobile telecommunications company. Telkom was launched in October 2010 and is owned by Telkom SOC. Telk ...
*
Internet in South Africa
The Internet in South Africa, one of the most technologically resourced countries on the African continent, is expanding. The internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .za is regulated by the ZADNA, .za Domain Name Authority (.ZADNA) and ...
References
External links
*
Mobile phone companies of South Africa
Telecommunications companies established in 2018
Companies based in Johannesburg
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