RAIN, HUAWEI PARTNER ON FIRST 5G COMMERCIAL NETWORK

The move has made South Africa one of the first countries globally to launch 5 G network on a commercial basis. With Huawei’s end-to-end 5G solutions, Rain has been able to build the 5G network using its 3.6GHz spectrum. In the first phase of the rollout, Rain has deployed a number of 5G sites in key areas in Johannesburg. Rain CEO, Willem Roos, said: “The network will provide fibre-like speeds without the installation complexities, time delays and cost of laying fibre in under-serviced areas.”Huawei, which also operates in Nigeria, launched a full range of 5G end-to-end product solutions, from the core network, the bearer network, and base station to terminals at the beginning of 2018. The company already launched 5G phones at MWC19.Apart from deploying new base stations, Huawei’s solutions enable Rain to fully leverage its existing LTE network and allocated spectrum for 5G deployment. This approach of sharing facilities and leveraging existing infrastructure will enable Rain to roll out the 5G network in a quick and cost-effective manner.