Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX urged South Africa to consider an alternative to Black ownership rules for telecom companies that want to operate in Africa\u2019s largest economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SpaceX asked the authorities to allow it to operate using an equity-equivalent program as an alternative to the existing requirement that Black people have 30% ownership of businesses operating in the ICT sector, the company said in a letter to the government seen by Bloomberg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It wants such programs to be a standard for the industry, according to the submission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEquity equivalent investment programs will provide much-needed regulatory certainty and foster investment in infrastructure,\u201d SpaceX said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUniform empowerment regulation will motivate both current and prospective operators to expand their business activities and network reach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa\u2019s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies has asked the industry regulator to provide an alternative that would allow telecom companies to invest in projects such as infrastructure, local businesses, digital inclusion initiatives or research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This type of exemption is already standard for a number of industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The proposal is similar to a deal offered to carmakers in 2019. Car manufacturers \u2014 including BMW AG<\/a>, Ford Motor Co.<\/a> and Toyota Motor Corp.<\/a> \u2014 established a fund that would bring disenfranchised groups into the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Starlink has pledged to give 5,000 rural schools free service and provide 2.4 million students high-speed Internet at no cost as an alternative to Black ownership.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cStarlink is not seeking any type of special treatment, as these changes would apply to all current and future potential operators,\u201d it said on the Starlink South Africa website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies confirmed receipt of the submission, without commenting further. SpaceX didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n News24, a Cape Town-based news website, reported on the letter earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa introduced Black economic empowerment rules after the end of apartheid, an era in which Black people were subjugated and excluded from the formal economy by the ruling White minority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Musk \u2014 who was born in Pretoria, South Africa\u2019s capital \u2014 has persistently criticized the laws, calling them \u201copenly racist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Starlink\u2019s technology, which relies on a constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites, would be a potential game-changer for South African users who\u2019ve historically faced expensive or unreliable Internet options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only 1.7% of rural households have access to the Internet, according to a 2023 survey compiled by the nation\u2019s statistics agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa\u2019s National Development Plan is targeting easy access to affordable broadband for 100% of the population by 2030. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX urged South Africa to consider an alternative to Black ownership rules for telecom companies that want to operate in Africa\u2019s largest economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":735077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[23397,18568],"class_list":["post-835381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-elomn-musk","tag-starlink"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835381","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\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":835382,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835381\/revisions\/835382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}