As of 12 June 2017, Internet Solutions and Rain (previously known as Wireless Business Solutions), will offer commercial LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) to local Internet service providers (ISPs).

IS will act as Rain’s ‘open access’ go-to-market partner for its fixed LTE-A product. Targeting local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) whose customers will benefit from fibre-like mobile connectivity, Internet Solutions and Rain anticipates that offering competitively-priced access to LTE-A will present local ISPs with new growth opportunities. 

“Access to LTE-A on the Rain network, with streamlined provisioning of service from Internet Solutions, is an attractive proposition for ISPs that have identified LTE-A as a driver of business sustainability, through an expanded product portfolio and infrastructure savings,” says Murray Steyn, executive head: Wholesale at Internet Solutions.

“As Internet Solutions is already integrated into all existing telcos, with a sophisticated billing and management platform that allows ISPs to administer the packages they market to customers, adding LTE-A to their offering will demonstrate their responsiveness to new technologies and consumer demand.”

First announced in September 2016, the Rain LTE-A network of currently 750 active base stations, and increasing daily, already extends across South Africa’s major centres and metropolitan areas. The company is on target to reach 2 000 sites by the end of the year, and expects to increase its footprint to 5 000 base stations by 2018, and ultimately growing to 10 000 sites over time. 

Where there is high-density mobile coverage, LTE-A offers ISPs and their customers distinct advantages over a wired network like ADSL or fibre, particularly for ISPs that wish to deliver services to customers quickly with minimal disruption during installation. As network coverage improves and gigabit LTE becomes a reality, mobile broadband is increasingly an attractive alternative to traditional broadband connectivity.

“As we invest in the significant undertaking of deploying a new national LTE-A network, we’ve partnered with Internet Solutions to deliver our fixed wireless broadband service, ‘Rain to the Home’ (RttH) as a Fibre or DSL alternative. We call this ‘fibre in the sky’”, says Duncan Simpson-Craib, CEO of Rain. “Internet Solutions will offer service providers access to the network in a manner that benefits South African ISPs, businesses and ultimately, consumers. We believe that the use of our companies’ respective strengths will best benefit the market.” 

Rain is ready to roll out future wireless technologies like LTE Advanced Pro and 5G when they become available in the coming years.

“As we progress beyond 3G and 4G, there is increasing potential for mobile connectivity to profoundly change how we work, communicate and socialise,” says Saki Missaikos, managing director of Internet Solutions. 

“In keeping with our network- and tech-agnostic approach to bringing new services to the market, we’re excited to add LTE-A to our existing connectivity offering because by increasing the breadth of available technologies, we bring local ISPs one step closer to offering their customers ubiquitous access to the Internet.”