Rain 5G prices hiked

Mobile network operator Rain has hiked the price of its RainOne (stylised rainOne) Home package to R625 per month, but its speed upgrade add-ons have remained the same.

Rain previously charged R595 per month for the base package, which offers fixed-5G speeds of up to 30Mbps. The plan includes uncapped data, and free monthly calls and data for two phones.

Rain launched the RainOne product in May 2023 at a launch price of R559 per month. It has since undergone two price increases.

At the same time, it launched a fully-fledged 4G mobile network, bringing the country’s number of national mobile network operators back to four, including Vodacom, MTN, and Telkom.

Cell C used to be a full mobile network operator. However, it no longer operates its own mobile network infrastructure, relying on MTN for a “virtual radio access network” and a Vodacom national roaming agreement.

Its prepaid customers use the MTN virtual RAN, and its contract customers use Vodacom. Cell C is busy overhauling these network arrangements to allow prepaid and contract customers to use either network and roam between them as needed.

Rain said its mobile 4G network, combined with its fixed-5G network, had enabled it to offer a package providing coverage at home and on the go.

“Rain is now combining home and phone into one plan, branded RainOne,” it said.

“Now customers can connect all their devices with one monthly bill.”

It explained that RainOne includes unlimited 5G home Wi-Fi and free monthly calls and data for two phones, each with 2GB of free data and 60 minutes of high-definition voice calls.

Customers can also opt to upgrade their max speed to 60Mbps for R200 more per month or 100Mbps and higher for an additional R400 per month.

Rain also allows users to increase their data, minutes, and SMS allocations on their mobile plans into five higher “levels”, each costing R75 more and adding 1GB of mobile data and 30 voice minutes.

Rain said the spectrum it acquired through the 2022 spectrum auction enabled it to overlay its existing 4G network with a new layer.

“This has now positioned Rain to enter the market as a full mobile network operator, thus becoming the fourth telco after Vodacom, MTN and Telkom, with a network that offers national coverage in voice, SMS and data,” it said.

Earlier this year, Rain told MyBroadband that its RainOne product had grown consistently since it launched.

The mobile operator said it had observed a noticeable increase in consumer demand and positive customer feedback since introducing its the101 5G smart router in November last year.

That is also when Rain implemented its previous price increase.

The new router promised several benefits over its predecessor, including improved network performance, Wi-Fi speeds, and touch controls. It can also be customised with various skins.

Prior to the launch of RainOne, Rain offered fixed-5G and mobile 4G packages separately. It was also the first network to launch 5G packages in South Africa.

Despite this, it has yet to offer mobile 5G services like MTN, Vodacom, and Telkom.

Previously, Rain did not say whether it intended to launch individual 4G and 5G products. It just said it has exciting plans for the future.

At the end of August 2024, Rain quietly launched a standalone 4G mobile month-to-month package.

The plan offers 2GB of data, 60 minutes, and 100 SMS messages for R165 per month, essentially the same allocations RainOne subscribers receive with their bundled SIM.

The company also ran a promotion during the launch month, letting customers add a gigabyte of data for free when they had depleted 80% of their allocation.