South Africans rely heavily on mobile data connections and spend an average of 9 hours and 38 minutes daily accessing the internet across all their devices, according to a report.
These stats were shared in the Digital 2023 South Africa report jointly by We Are Social and Meltwater. Melon Mobile launched in April as a mobile virtual network operator that piggybacks on the MTN network, but has an independent support team and call centre. Other MVNOs that run on MTN are PnP Mobile and Afrihost Air Mobile.
Rain, on the other hand, is no longer a data-only network. You can now get a mobile number for your smartphone. It is a fully-fledged 4G mobile operator that offers voice calls, data and SMSes. It has only one offering under"rainOne" that includes unlimited 5G home wifi and two SIM cards for calls, data and SMSes. Melon Mobile’s data bundles start at R45 for 500MB and is the cheapest"plan" you can be on, but you can add 50 minutes of voice for R35, and 50 SMSes for R15.
It offers a"level up" option for R75 more per tier that gradually increases data and voice options from 3GB and 90 minutes all the way up to 7GB and 210 minutes. Access to its 4G network with a standalone number is not available as an individual product.