{"id":812222,"date":"2025-02-18T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=812222"},"modified":"2025-02-18T12:42:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T10:42:36","slug":"south-africans-cannot-get-starlink-until-a-black-partner-gets-a-share","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/812222\/south-africans-cannot-get-starlink-until-a-black-partner-gets-a-share\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans cannot get Starlink until a black partner gets a share"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Starlink is a fantastic Internet access technology, perfect for South Africa\u2019s rural areas, but it is blocked locally because SpaceX does not have enough black ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starlink is a satellite Internet constellation operated by Starlink Services – an international telecommunications provider wholly owned by SpaceX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The satellite Internet service covers over 100 countries and territories and aims to provide global mobile broadband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The advanced low-orbit satellites allow users to use the service for activities that have historically been impossible with satellite internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also easy to set up. Subscribers only need to plug it in and point the terminal to the sky. The rest is automatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Starlink subscription plans include unlimited high-speed data on land with no long-term contracts or commitments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means households and businesses in the most rural settings can enjoy streaming, video calls, online gaming, and remote working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starlink is a game changer and can significantly impact rural development and economic growth in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) regulations prevent the service from launching in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To launch in South Africa, Starlink must comply with the Electronic Communications Act, Rica, tax laws, and all other regulations local ISPs are subject to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One set of regulations require licensees operating a national network or selling Internet services nationally to be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New regulations Icasa published in 2021 include provisions that changed this requirement to 30% black ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, Starlink Services cannot launch its satellite offering in South Africa unless it has 30% black ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many stakeholders, including the Democratic Alliance and the business sector, have slated this requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DA member of parliament Natasha Mazzone said South Africa is kept in digital darkness until connected cadres can get their slice of the pie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She explained that the BBBEE requirements demand that 30% of the implementing corporation’s equity be \u201ctransferred into their greedy hands\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey do not care that South Africans are trying to lift themselves out of poverty, access jobs online, teach themselves skills, and educate their children,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well-known fund manager Piet Viljoen said it is fascinating that so-called Black Empowerment laws are holding back Starlink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would have thought that if you wanted to empower black people, access to cheap, fast Internet in rural areas would be quite a powerful tool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI guess the ANC regards the enrichment of a few tenderpreneurs as more critical than uplifting its voting base.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bad news about Starlink in South Africa<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Communications minister Solly Malatsi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many stakeholders hoped that the government and Starlink could come to a compromise, launching the service in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People called on the regulator to relax its black ownership requirement on Starlink as it is misplaced for an international company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, SpaceX withdrew from the recent regulatory hearings on a new licensing framework for satellite services in South Africa, which ICASA organised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SpaceX said in its written submission that the requirement of 30% shareholding by historically disadvantaged groups is impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It explained that foreign satellite operators, like Starlink, with direct-to-consumer business models, have global policies that prevent local shareholding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that foreign satellite operators are prevented from operating in South Africa, even if they invest in initiatives that directly benefit the target communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It advised that the regulator align licensing and ownership regulations to recognise equity equivalent programmes as an alternative to local shareholding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a change to the ICT sector code would remove a significant barrier to foreign satellite operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would increase foreign investment in South Africa and create broader industry benefits, supporting innovation, competition and long-term growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists and the business sectors agree that Starlink\u2019s proposal is reasonable and would benefit the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, South Africa\u2019s Presidency lashed out at Elon Musk, who controls SpaceX, for harbouring \u201cunprogressive, racist views\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Elon Musk harbours the kind of unprogressive, racist views that we\u2019ve witnessed, we\u2019re not going to pursue having his investments,\u201d Presidency spokesman Vincent Magwenya said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg reported that this stalled talks between South Africa and SpaceX to launch the Starlink internet service in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a glimmer of hope that Communications Minister Solly Malatsi will be able to change regulations regarding foreign companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malatsi is in discussions with Icasa<\/a> about introducing equity equivalents as an alternative to existing black ownership requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister said he would also consider instruments other than a policy directive to address the issue if a policy directive isn\u2019t appropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless the regulatory red tape is cleared, South Africans will be the only people in Southern Africa without legal access to Starlink in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that South Africa can benefit far more from Starlink than the company, and Elon Musk, can benefit from South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, it is in the interest of South Africans to allow Starlink to launch in the country to offer affordable Internet access for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starlink is a fantastic Internet access technology, perfect for South Africa\u2019s rural areas, but it is blocked locally because SpaceX does not have enough black ownership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":812232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[2662,20317,2660,18568,21752],"class_list":["post-812222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-elon-musk","tag-solly-malatsi","tag-spacex","tag-starlink","tag-starlink-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812222"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":812371,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812222\/revisions\/812371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}