To understand the rise and success of Rain, let’s take it back to the year 2015, when Paul Harris and Michael Jordaan’s investment in MultiSource, which provided a wide range of telecommunications services and products, acquired Wireless Business Solutions (WBS). This move gave it access to valuable 4G and 5G spectrum.
In 2016, Harris announced a multi-billion-rand investment in a new high-speed LTE-A national data network for the country using their spectrum in the 1,800MHz and 2,600MHz bands. Even though to roll out a national mobile network is expensive and resource-intensive, the duo saw this as an opportunity to make it much easier.
During that time, Vodacom was in desperate need of additional network capacity to serve their data customers, and Rain had valuable spectrum which could help the telecomm giant.
The two parties struck a deal which allowed Vodacom subscribers to roam on Rain’s new network, giving them better coverage and less congestion. In return, Vodacom gave Rain access to its infrastructure which helped the startup build a national 4G network. On top of that, the agreement also helped Rain to fund its network rollout.
The new LTE-A network replaced the old iBurst network and WBS was then rebranded as Rain and just like that, a new mobile operator was born.
In June 2017, Rain launched commercial fixed-broadband packages in partnership with Internet Solutions. A year later, the startup launched its first mobile products, offering data at R50 per GB and unlimited off-peak data for R250 per month.
The company speeded up its network rollout and product development cycle, over the next two years, it launched numerous mobile and fixed broadband products.
Rain has since become synonymous with affordable uncapped data products, which is exactly what Jordaan said they wanted to achieve in 2016 – “offer an affordable, simple, and fast broadband service.”
By 31 December 2020, 685 5G towers have been activated and the aim is to increase this to 1 150 towers by February 2022. Ultimately, more than 2 000 5G towers in larger metropolitan areas throughout South Africa are planned, bringing ultra-fast broadband connections to homes and small businesses at affordable cost.
In November 2022, Rain appointed Wipro — New York Stock Exchange-listed company headquartered in Bangalore, India — as its customer support service provider
Rain has now set its sights on racking up two million subscribers in the next coming few years, as the data-only network operator has reached a R17.1 billion valuation.
