Pinging in the Rain: mobile broadband venture in Alpha trial

Mybroadband.co.za reports that South African broadband group Rain (previously Wireless Business Solutions [WBS]) has launched an Alpha trial of its new mobile LTE-A venture ‘Rain Mobile’. In June this year Rain and Internet Solutions jointly launched fixed-wireless LTE-A-based wholesale services to South African ISPs, and has subsequently expanded the network across the country with a focus on metropolitan areas. The latest development is the first phase of testing of Rain’s fully mobile LTE-A service in metro areas, in an Alpha version of Rain Mobile so far available only to company staff. The mobile trial will eventually be extended to a select group of other users, under a plan to launch commercial 4G mobile data-centric packages to compete with established cellular operators, with these services to be offered alongside Rain’s existing fixed LTE-A packages (offered via ISP partners).