Question $2$

Read the extract below and answer the requirements that follow:

Rain entered the South African telecoms sector based on a view that the mobile broadband industry is undersupplied. The company$$s primary objectives were to establish a cutting$-$edge LTE$-$A fixed and mobile network designed to meet growing consumer demand, provide simple and transparent data access, and work towards open internet access at affordable rates and best quality. This is important and different in that data does not $$expire$($which is now enforced across operators through recent regulatory changes that came into effect in $2019).$ Users can track and manage usage and cost over time. Rain bypassed some of the major entry barriers in two main ways: $1)$ leveraging existing spectrum assets and $2)$ entering into a facility$-$sharing agreement with an established incumbent.

Rain was established following the rebranding of an existing wireless telecoms company $$ Wireless Business Solutions $($WBS$)$ in $2017.$ WBS was a holding company of iBurst and Broadlink, players in the wireless segment of the telecommunications industry. The company was acquired by Multisource in $2015,$ a company backed by both Paul Harris and Michael Jordaan. Subsequently, a decision was taken to rebrand WBS into Rain, largely because iBurst technologies had become obsolete, and the $$Wireless Business Solutions$$ name was too long.

The rebranding process included iBurst$$s adoption of a new super$-$fast Long Term Evolution$-$Advanced $($LTE$-$A$)$ technology in $2017.$ LTE technology is primarily used for data communications and is typically implemented over higher radio frequency spectrums. Before the acquisition by Multisource and later rebranding into Rain, WBS$/$iBurst already had access to spectrum in the $1800$Ghz and $2600$Ghz frequencies. Thus, Rain had access to spectrum and valuable spectrum compatible with the latest technologies, such as the LTE. None of the other mobile operators, except Telkom, have access to higher frequency spectrum. This gives Rain a competitive advantage in the LTE data market.

To answer the question, you need to do further research into Rain$$s telecommunications company.

Required:

As a marketing analyst at a consulting firm, your task is to assess Rain's competitive position within the South African telecommunications industry for a client considering entry into the market.

Apply Michael Porter's Five Forces framework to analyse Rain's competitive position within the South African telecommunications industry.

The following points are to be assessed:

$$ The threat of entry from new competitors.

$$ Threat of substitute products.

$$ The bargaining power of buyers.

$$ The bargaining power of suppliers.

$$ The rivalry between the existing direct competitors.

Hint to Student:

$$ Each force is to be analysed in relation to Rain's competitive position within the South African telecommunications industry.

$$ This question is application$-$based in relation to Rain. Defining each source is insufficient; you need to relate each source to Rain.