MWEB group CEO Rudi Jansen steps down

Rudi Jansen, Group CEO of MWEB, has resigned after 15 years of working at the company.

He will be leaving MWEB at the end of February 2012, after which he will be pursuing new business interests outside the ISP sector.

Jansen was one of MWEB’s first employees, joining the company as head of finance in 1997, before rising to CEO in 2005.

During this time, Jansen has led MWEB to become one of South Africa’s biggest ISPs. In 2010, MyBroadband named him Broadband Maverick of the Year for launching Uncapped ADSL and pushing for free and open peering.

These moves undoubtedly had positive effects for South African gamers using ADSL connections, who found with uncapped accounts that they were no longer restricted by large digitally distributed game downloads, large game patch files, and bandwidth intensive online gaming.

The open peering issue also shook up the gaming landscape for a while as certain ISPs were slow to respond with peering agreements, forcing gamers to carefully consider which gaming service providers they chose.

Francois Theron, CEO of DSTV Mobile, has been appointed to take over from Jansen.

Theron has more than 15 years experience in the pay television and telecommunications industries. He has served as CEO for MultiChoice Middle East and Egypt, M-Tel, as well as the United Broadcasting Corporation in Thailand. He also served on the main board of the Asian Cable and Satellite Association.

Jansen said: “We have achieved most of what we set out to accomplish with Uncapped Internet and it has really transformed MWEB and the South African Internet landscape.”

“The MWEB business is in great shape and while there are still many challenges ahead in the local ISP industry, I know that Francois’s experience locally and internationally will bring immense value to the business. It is time for me to move on to new challenges.”