Rain’s incredible 5G expansion in South Africa

Rain has expanded its 5G network to East London, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Pietermaritzburg, Emalahleni (Witbank), and Stellenbosch, a spokesperson for the company has confirmed.

The cellular network operator has also added to its existing metro coverage in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Durban is still waiting for 5G after Rain initially planned to launch in 2020.

Rain told MyBroadband in May that it is deploying its 5G network in the city.

MyBroadband asked Rain if the July riots affected its rollout plans in Durban. The company did not answer the question but assured us that 5G coverage is still on the cards for the city.

“Durban remains in our 2021 rollout plan, and more smaller towns are earmarked in Mpumalanga,” Rain stated.

Rain said that over the last few months, it has expanded its 5G coverage to more than 15 towns including:

• Potchefstroom
• Vanderbijlpark & Vereeniging
• Sohanguve
• Paarl
• Bloemfontein
• Klerksdorp
• Rustenburg
• Strand
• Polokwane
• Orange Farm

Rain began expanding its 5G footprint to smaller towns in August, even though it did not yet have coverage in Durban, East London, and Gqeberha.

In addition to rolling out in Potchefstroom, Rain also grew its 5G coverage in Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark.

It isn’t a surprise that smaller towns are receiving Rain’s 5G services before certain cities.

Rain announced in May that it plans to cover 5,000 new households with 5G each day for the rest of the year and that its rollout plan includes coverage of smaller towns.

This aggressive rollout target means Rain will add over a million households to its 5G coverage area by the end of 2021.

Rain launched its first commercial 5G products in selected areas in Johannesburg and Pretoria in September 2019. At the time, Rain only had 250 5G towers covering an estimated 500,000 households.

Since then, Rain has significantly increased its 5G coverage. It has launched in Cape Town and now covers approximately 3 million households.

The company also recently launched a basic home uncapped 5G service for R499 per month.

MyBroadband bought the service to put it through its paces, and it performed impressively.

The following screenshots from Rain’s online coverage map show where its 5G network has expanded to.

East London

Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)

Pietermaritzburg

Emalahleni

Stellenbosch

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