Rain standalone mobile product launched at R165/month

Rain, the telecommunications operator specialising in fixed-wireless access products, now has a standalone offering aimed at mobile devices.

The new product, named Rain Mobile, offers a 4G Sim with 2GB of data, 60 minutes and 100 SMSes for R165/month on a month-to-month basis.

The move unbundles Rain’s mobile offering, launched in May 2023, from its rainOne package, which combines 5G fixed wireless and 4G mobile Sim offerings. RainOne, which costs R559/month with no lock-in, includes “unlimited” 5G home Wi-Fi, plus free monthly calls and data for two phones, each with 2GB of data and 60 minutes of voice calls.

The unbundling puts Rain in a better position to compete directly with more established mobile operators, Vodacom, MTN, Telkom and Cell C. From a pricing perspective, the Rain Mobile package at R165 is about 40% cheaper than the nearest similar offering by its competitors. In some instances, it is multiple times cheaper.

VoLTE

Rain’s mobile offering is based on 4G/LTE technology and does not support the older 2G and 3G standards. For its high-definition voice services, Rain uses voice-over-IP technology, or VoLTE (voice over LTE), which facilitates voice calls in the same way that apps like WhatsApp do.