The Competition Tribunal of South Africa has approved the proposed merger between Business Connexion Group Limited (BCX) and Telkom SA SOC Limited (Telkom) with the imposition of conditions.

According to a statement released by BCX, since April 2013, Telkom has embarked on a strategy to improve performance by expanding its portfolio of services beyond its core business of connectivity and into ICT services.

"BCX is one of the largest ICT services providers listed on the JSE when measured in terms of turnover, total assets and staff compliment. The company employs more than 6,700 people on the African continent with offices in various African countries, the United Kingdom and Dubai and generates revenue in excess of R6 billion per annum," the statement continues.

"BCX has very strong capabilities in managed IT Infrastructure, including data centres, cloud based services and application development and the merger will enable Telkom to expand its existing offerings whilst, at the same time, providing scale in IT services, which will help reinforce Telkom's core connectivity business and enhance Telkom's convergence strategy", said Isaac Mophatlane, BCX CEO.

Mophatlane said he believes that the merger will advance the strategies of both Telkom and BCX and that working together with Telkom will improve both their customer value propositions through a greater ability to provide integrated end-to-end ICT solutions and a more global and competitive offering, particularly on the African continent and beyond.

Final approval will now be sought from the Takeover Regulations Panel and the JSE. The transaction is expected to be concluded by 25 August 2015.