Hero Telecoms (HeroTel) has announced the acquisition of BreedeNet, a Worcester-based wireless Internet service provider (WISP) supplying high-speed Internet, VOIP and Web hosting to homes and businesses across the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and the Free State.
BreedeNet was founded in 2005 by Dolf Lombard. Starting in the Breede River Valley, it expanded aggressively, and today manages over 10 000 customers with a staff complement of 60 people, covering a large area from Paternoster in the west to King William's Town in the east and as far inland as the remote Northern Cape.
"The BreedeNet deal is a very large piece of the puzzle for us. We are excited that HeroTel now has customers in every province of South Africa," HeroTel chairman Alan Knott-Craig Jnr told ITWeb exclusively.
"Dolf and his team have built an excellent business. BreedeNet will not only take us into many new areas, but it will allow us to consolidate our presence in a number of towns in which we already have an office. Our teams are looking forward to sharing their skills and working together in these locations. Even more exciting times are ahead," he said.
HeroTel COO Helmut Nel says the BreedeNet team buys into HeroTel's vision of connecting all South Africans to affordable, high quality Internet.
"The increased coverage is also great news for our corporate clients, who in most cases can now get all of their branches covered through a single provider, as opposed to dealing with separate WISPs in every town," Nel adds.
Coert Smit, who will continue as general manager of BreedeNet, says the team is excited to join a company that shares the same values and goals as it does.
"HeroTel will provide us with the necessary capital and skills, as we seek to aggressively grow our business together. We also believe the scale that HeroTel brings will allow us to better position ourselves against the larger telcos in our market."
BreedeNet is the 33rd acquisition the group has completed to date and in line with its strategy.There are no planned changes to management or staff at the company.
HeroTel now has over 70 000 customers, making it South Africa's largest fixed wireless Internet service provider and one of the fastest growing national fibre players.
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