Rain goes 5.5G

Rain says it has an exciting product roadmap in the pipeline for next year, which will also mark the beginning of the 5.5G era.

According to Huawei, 5.5G networks are 10 times faster than current 5G networks. Rain says 5.5G, combined with artificial intelligence, will enable it to unlock and offer new services.

“At Rain, we are well positioned to take advantage of 5.5G and will continue to invest in our 5G rollout throughout 2025,” it told MyBroadband.

“We can confirm we have an exciting product roadmap lined up for next year. Our plan is to leverage the benefits of 5.5G and AI, with a particular focus on mobile and new market segments.”

The mobile operator launched various new products in 2024, including several new devices in the RainX the101 router range and a standalone mobile product.

African Rainbow Capital Investments, which held a 21% share in Rain as of August 2024, reported that Rain’s launch of RainOne in May 2023 and its standalone mobile 4G service in July 2024 had significantly contributed to this growth.

“Rain has solidified its position as an affordable data and mobile service provider and continues to experience substantial subscriber growth,” it added.

The launch of a standalone mobile product represented a significant strategic shift.

When it launched RainOne last year, Rain grandfathered its standalone 4G broadband services and exclusively started offering fixed wireless access 5G products bundled with mobile 4G SIMs.

Its RainOne packages for home users combine two Rain 4G SIMs with its fixed-5G service.

According to Rain CEO Brandon Leigh, the thinking behind bundling a mobile and fixed service is to allow customers to always be connected — whether at home, on the road, or out and about.

With its recently-launched standalone 4G mobile service, customers could get a month-to-month 4G SIM with 2GB of data, 60 minutes, and 100 SMSes for R165 per month.

In addition, Rain launched a business uncapped 5G product in June 2024, with unlimited 5G data and five 4G SIMs.

Rain recently told MyBroadband that RainOne has seen consistent growth within its first year on the market. It added that the introduction of the101 5G smart router in November 2023 also led to increased demand.

Rain wants to expand Nvidia GeForce Now access

Rain launched locally-hosted Nvidia GeForce Now servers in December 2023, marking the first official offering of the cloud gaming service in South Africa.

However, high demand for the service meant subscriptions sold out on the day of its launch.

Rain plans to expand access to the service. In March 2024, it said an expansion would come later in the year. However, this has proven more challenging than anticipated.

“The Nvidia GeForce Now subscriptions were sold out on the first day, due to much anticipation in the South African gaming community,” said Rain.

“We realise there is increased demand for the service, and we are planning to be able to expand the service offering and… will keep you posted on the developments.”

Rain said it limited registrations so that subscribers get the best possible experience, adding that, between the launch and March 2024, it recorded 3.6 million minutes of Nvidia GeForce Now cloud gaming.