Herotel is currently South Africa’s third-largest fibre network operator behind Vumatel and Openserve.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has approved the licence transfer application of Herotel to Maziv subsidiary Vumatel.
Maziv told ITWeb that ICASA approved the licence transfer application today.
The approval follows the Competition Tribunal’s clearance of Vumatel’s acquisition of Herotel in December last year and marks a major step in strengthening South Africa’s fibre ecosystem, according to the companies.
Vumatel says the transaction will combine its metropolitan fibre expertise and national scale with Herotel’s footprint in rural and underserved communities.
The companies believe the merger will accelerate broadband rollout into historically underserved areas and help bridge the country’s digital divide.
“Vuma has long been a firm believer in Herotel’s vision, which is why we initially acquired a minority stake several years ago,” says Dietlof Mare, group CEO of Maziv.
“The acquisition of the remaining shares is a resounding vote of confidence in Herotel’s long-term value. By combining our capabilities, we can accelerate rollouts and deliver high-quality, affordable fibre to communities that have traditionally been left behind.”
Van Zyl Botha, CEO of Herotel, says the deal will strengthen connectivity in smaller towns and regional markets.
“Our focus has always been on secondary towns and markets where digital access was inconsistent,” says Botha.
“Joining forces with Vuma gives us the infrastructure backbone to scale even faster. This transaction creates cross-network opportunities that provide more choices for our customers and ensures that reliable internet remains an enabler of education and economic growth in every corner of the country.”
Maziv CEO Dietlof Maré. (Image: Supplied)
According to the companies, the strategy is already delivering results, with households on the Herotel network consuming increasing amounts of data while the company’s Hero Prepaid offering continues to grow rapidly.
They note that the prepaid fibre model allows customers to access connectivity on a pay-as-you-go basis without long-term contracts, helping address affordability concerns in underserved communities.
Herotel is currently South Africa’s third-largest fibre network operator behind Vumatel and Openserve.
“As the group moves forward, the mission remains unchanged: keeping fibre affordable, staying local, and continuing to connect areas where reliable internet makes the greatest difference in daily life,” says Botha.
The approval of the acquisition is subject to conditions aimed at safeguarding competition, ensuring transparency and supporting public interest outcomes.
The companies say the conditions are designed to promote fair competition and inclusive connectivity across South Africa.
Meanwhile, Herotel announced this week that it has become South Africa’s largest fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) internet service provider by connected homes, according to the most recent Africa Analysis FTTH Quarter Tracking report.
The industry tracking data places Herotel at 284 850 connected FTTH homes. The ranking includes connected homes across month-to-month and prepaid FTTH services, and excludes Herotel’s fixed wireless customer base, which stands at 52 094.
For Herotel, the achievement reflects a shift in where South Africa’s fibre growth is coming from, with demand increasingly extending beyond traditional metro fibre suburbs into smaller towns, peri-urban areas, and underserved communities.
“This milestone shows that demand for quality fibre is not limited to the country’s established fibre markets,” says Botha. “South Africans want reliable, affordable connectivity that they can use, and that demand is visible in the communities where we build every day.”
The company notes that its growth has been driven by a direct-access network model that combines ownership of fibre and wireless infrastructure with local deployment and support teams.
Unlike providers that rely primarily on third-party networks, Herotel builds, owns, and operates its own fibre and wireless infrastructure, giving it greater control over rollout, performance, pricing, and customer experience, it says.
Herotel explains that this model has helped it scale rapidly across the country and today, only six years since its first project, more than 350 000 active customers across over 550 towns, cities, and suburbs are connected, with more than 612 000 homes ready for connection.
A major part of this growth has come from serving areas where conventional fibre rollout models are often harder to justify commercially. Herotel’s mixed use of aerial and trenched fibre deployment has helped reduce rollout complexity, while its prepaid fibre model has made high-volume home internet more accessible to households that prefer flexible spending options over long-term contracts.
In some townships and underserved communities, it says customers are consuming more than 1TB of data per month at an effective cost of less than 50 cents per GB, showing how usage changes when connectivity becomes affordable enough to use properly.
“This is not only about passing homes with fibre. The real test is whether people can afford to stay connected and use that connection for school, work, business, communication, and entertainment without constantly managing data limits,” says Botha.
Herotel CEO Van Zyl Botha.
Herotel has already expanded into underserved areas like Jouberton, Kanana and Siyabuswa.
The firm is targeting an additional 750,000 homes in underserved areas, aiming to expand its total footprint to more than 1.1 million homes and reach approximately 6 million people.
Botha says the ranking confirms the strength of Herotel’s strategy, but also points to the scale of work still ahead.
“South Africa’s digital divide is no longer only about whether people have some form of internet access. It is about whether that access is reliable, affordable, and useful enough to support real participation in the digital economy. That is the gap Herotel is focused on closing,” concludes Botha.
