Rain Mobile mess – MyBroadband

Rain has lost its value proposition in the mobile market and tacitly admitted that it is better to use AirMobile, Telkom, MTN, or Vodacom.

Rain recently launched a standalone 4G SIM offering with 2 GB of data, 60 minutes, and 100 SMS messages for R165 per month.

The new Rain mobile offering replaced its three uncapped 4G packages, which it discontinued last year.

What stands out about Rain’s new mobile product is that its value proposition is worse than other products in the market.

Afrihost’s AirMobile has a 2GB data-only package for R60.00 per month and offers a 10GB package for R150.00 per month.

People looking for a bundled data and voice package with 2GB of data and 60 voice minutes, the same as Rain, will pay R124.40 at AirMobile.

Telkom is also more affordable. Its FlexOn 2 contract bundle offers 2GB of data, 75 minutes, and 500 SMSs for R129 per month.

For people who call a lot, MTN Superflex offers 10GB of data and unlimited local calls and SMS for R299 per month.

Although it is 81% more expensive than Rain’s mobile product, it offers 400% more data and unlimited calls — a far better value proposition.

Some mobile virtual network operators roaming on MTN’s network offer 5GB of data and unlimited calls and SMSes for R199 per month.

Simply put, Rain’s new mobile product is nothing special and does not offer value to South African consumers.

Even more striking is that MyBroadband Insights’ latest data shows that Rain’s network is by far the worst in South Africa.

Rain’s average download speed of 21Mbps is much lower than MTN’s at 82Mbps and Vodacom’s at 80Mbps. It is also much slower than Cell C and Telkom.

Another problem is that Rain’s voice-over-LTE calling is not supported on all phones. That means you need a custom dialer to make voice calls.

MyBroadband asked Rain why people should consider Rain over alternatives like AirMobile, Telkom, MTN, or Vodacom.

Rain could not answer this question and tacitly admitted that their product is not competitive and that South Africans are better off using other products.

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub predicted Rain’s problems

MyBroadband asked Rain why it stopped offering uncapped data products for mobile phones, which differentiated its value proposition.

However, the company preferred not to answer this question. It provided a bizarre alternative statement.

“Following our spectrum acquisition in the 2022 auction, Rain is the newest mobile network operator, joining Vodacom, MTN, and Telkom as the fourth major telco,” it said.

This answer suggested that it had only become a mobile network operator in 2022 and that this was somehow linked to the spectrum auction.

However, long before the spectrum auction, Rain had its own spectrum and operated as a mobile network.

The answer may be a misguided attempt to deflect from the fact that it has lost its value proposition and is no longer able to compete effectively.

Rain’s decision to discontinue its unlimited mobile data products further showed that Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub’s warning about the issue was accurate.

Joosub predicted that Rain will face network capacity constraints if it continues to offer large data bundles.

“It is easy when you have an empty network, but when you offer aggressive deals, it quickly fills up,” Joosub said.

Rain traditionally avoided admitting that it faced network congestion, trying to argue away poor speeds and connectivity issues.

The company also dismissed Joosub’s warning and committed to continue to offer uncapped data products.

However, its latest mobile product, which offers only 2GB of mobile data, suggests that it may have miscalculated with its previous unlimited mobile data offerings.