Mweb is an Internet Service Provider based in South Africa since 1997. Mweb is a division of Internet Solutions Digital (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of

Dimension Data Dimension Data is a company specialising in information technology services. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company maintains operations on every inhabited continent. Dimension Data focuses on services including IT consulting, technic ...

, and its headquarters are located in the Mweb Building in Parow,

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

History

As one of the first Internet Service Providers in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, Mweb launched dial-up internet in South Africa with the Big Black Box in 1997, which was issued with a copy of tech expert

Arthur Goldstuck Arthur Goldstuck (born 1959) is a South African author, journalist, speaker, media analyst and commentator on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Internet and mobile communications and technologies. Life Arthur Goldstuck was born ...

's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet, the bestselling tech book in South Africa at the time. In 2004 it also launched Polka, a low cost

ISP An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

. A year later, the South African division of Italian-owned ISP

Tiscali Tiscali S.p.a. () is an Italian telecommunications company, based in Cagliari, Sardinia, that provides internet and telecommunications services to its domestic market. It previously had operations in other European nations through its acquisitio ...

was acquired by Mweb. In 2006 its 3G mobile data offerings were launched and the company resold products from two of SA's largest mobile networks. The company was later first to launch Uncapped ADSL in South Africa, in 2010, and brought the global Fon WiFi network to South Africa in 2014. Also in 2014, Mweb launched its first

fiber-to-the-home Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...

packages. In 2015, the company was restructured to focus mainly on the residential and small business market. In addition the company sold its Mweb Business, Optinet and core network assets divisions to

Internet Solutions Internet Solutions (IS) is an Internet services provider for public and private sector organisations. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dimension Data Group and part of NTT. Headquartered in South Africa, IS has operating offices in Moz ...

, a division of

. In December 2016, Internet Solutions announced that it had entered an agreement with

Naspers Naspers Limited is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in online retail, publishing and venture capital investment. Naspers' principal shareholder is its ...

to acquire Mweb pending approval by the South African competition authorities. On 9 May 2017, it was announced that the South African competition authorities approved the proposed acquisition of Mweb with 31 May 2017 being the effective date of the sale. In July 2017, Mweb launched a selection of

LTE Advanced LTE Advanced (LTE+) is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the LTE (telecommunication), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was formally submitted as a candidate 4G to ITU-T in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of t ...

products in partnership with Rain, a fixed wireless broadband provider.

Company Structure

Mweb is owned by Internet Solutions Digital (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of

. The ISP operates nationally, with its headquarters in

. Mweb has 30% Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment shareholders.

Retail Stores

The company initially had five retail stores. The retail stores were closed at the end of March 2016, opting to move all of their sales online.

References

Companies based in Cape Town Internet service providers of South Africa Telecommunications companies established in 1997 South African brands {{SouthAfrica-telecom-company-stub