Rain or Rain (Pty) Ltd is a South African mobile communications 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 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

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 ( ICASA) to report spectrum arrangements between competitors

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

References

External links

* Mobile phone companies of South Africa Telecommunications companies established in 2018 Companies based in Johannesburg {{Authority control