SA's Rain springs 5G surprise on congress
Rain's CEO announced the provider had gone live with the country's first 5G network
SA's first 5G network took Barcelona by surprise at the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) this week. The event was dominated by the next generation of wireless connectivity, highlighting the technology as a flashpoint in the trade war between East and West. The big players in 5G, China's Huawei and Sweden's Ericsson, went head to head in claiming 5G leadership, with a slew of announcements of new technologies and partnerships. At the same time, SA saw an unlikely arm's-length "alliance" between Huawei and Finland's Nokia, the networking arm of the brand that saw its smartphones spun off first to Microsoft and then to HMD Global. At a press conference during MWC, Willem Roos, CEO of South African wireless internet service Rain, announced the provider had gone live with the country's first 5G network, built with both Huawei and Nokia technology. Rain was founded by ex-FNB CEO Michael Jordaan and FirstRand founder Paul Harris and originally comprised the rebranded WBS network, acquire...
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