Rain Launches First Commercial Standalone 5G Network in Africa

Rain has launched the first commercial standalone 5G network in Africa. The South African data-only provider achieved this feat in partnership with Huawei. The standalone 5G will enable digital transformation in the country.

In May, Vodacom launched its 5G services across Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. MTN South Africa recently launched its commercial 5G network this month, with an initial deployment of 100 5G sites. Liquid Telecom is also on its way to launch wholesale 5G network in major South African cities.

Rain’s Standalone 5G will increase uplink rate, lower latency, and improves network reliability. It will benefit users of high-end VR and cloud gaming services, enterprises and home broadband service subscribers. Khaya Dlanga, Rain CMO said, “Standalone 5G will demonstrate how 5G is powerful in realizing South Africa’s 4IR future. Powered by Huawei’s global leading 5G solutions, our Standalone 5G will enable the industry’s digital transformation in the future, such as smart healthcare, smart ports, smart mining and smart manufacturing in South Africa.”

Rain’s 5G network offers unlimited data for 24hours daily and has a free-to-use 5G router. The customer can choose from the standard or premium plan, the streaming quality and network speed. The 5G currently covers certain areas of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Cape Town. Rain has built additional 5G sites in Gauteng as part of its expansion plan. It also plans to deploy 5G metro stations throughout South Africa in a year and six months.

Standalone 5G supports advanced network-slicing functions and mobile edge computing (MEC). Rain will leverage this functionality to explore new customized services based on ultra-low latency and increased capacity. According to Huawei, the network will allow mobile operators to enhance their overall fixed-wireless broadband service experience.