Webafrica will have to address public interest concerns when it buys rival ISP Mweb, according to conditions imposed by the Competition Commission.

TechCentral reports that this means Webafrica will have to adopt and implement an employee share ownership programme and a transaction involving historically disadvantaged persons.

Dimension Data had been trying to sell the Mweb business since at least 2021 and TechCentral last month reported that a buyer had finally been found.

Sean Nourse, Webafrica’s MD, said the parties have signed the paperwork and the deal will double the company’s workforce.

No layoffs are expected.

Nourse previously headed up Mweb for Dimension Data and moved to Webafrica three years ago.

Mweb, which is led by Manelisa Mavuso, will continue to operate independently.

Nourse wouldn’t say how many customers Mweb has on its books, but that they numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

A majority of these are on fibre, although the business still has a large legacy copper DSL base as well as customers on fixed-LTE services.

The value of the Webafrica transaction wasn’t disclosed.

Full TechCentral report