Namibian government rejects Starlink
The Namibian government today announced it has rejected SpaceX’s application to provide Starlink to that country, apparently because the company will not comply with its laws that require ownership by Namibia citizens.
As a result, the regulator upheld its earlier ruling, stating that Starlink’s application remained non-compliant with the ownership and control requirements contained in Section 46 of the Communications Act, No. 8 of 2009. CRAN acknowledged that Low Earth Orbit satellite technology has the potential to improve connectivity across Namibia but stressed that all telecommunications operators must comply with the country’s legal and regulatory framework.
The authority also clarified that exemptions from the ownership requirements under Section 46(2) of the Communications Act can only be granted by the Minister of Information and Communication Technology and cannot be determined by CRAN through a reconsideration process.
In Africa such ownership laws almost always include a racial quota, requiring a certain percentage of ownership go specifically to blacks. SpaceX across the board refuses to do this.
The government apparently got 624 comments from the public asking it approve SpaceX’s application, but the regulators threw out all but 2 of those comments for what appears to be minor language or procedural issues.
My guess is that SpaceX refused to bribe these petty dictators, and so they denied the application.
Namibia, like South Africa, is making a foolish decision here, and as a result it is making itself a backwater, likely to trail the world in economic growth and prosperity for decades to come.
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No, not a backwater. They are emulating Blue First World Cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. And, just as in those places, the actual welfare of the population is the last thing on the minds of the local elites. The tragedy is that their residents haven’t yet figured this out and taken the appropriate steps to better themselves. There are Blue districts everywhere around the globe, and their number is expanding, not contracting.
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Namibia, as it says in the quoted excerpt, not “Nambia.”
Fixed. Thank you.
If they want to remain backwards….
Not sure there’s any “want” involved. More like inability to be otherwise.
As Cornelius Vanderbilt is SUPPOSED to have said, ‘The public be damned!’
It’s always bowb your buddy day in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Just retired from a career at Kratos. Had to sit through SO many online training sessions explaining how I could not bribe foreign governments to buy our products. (Even though never in a million years would I be in a position to do so). BTW the training videos always featured a woman of color lecturing a typical white guy about how evil and stupid he was. Retirement isn’t great, but at least it doesn’t feature woke training videos. Yet.
I wasn’t looking for much coming out of FIFA, but appreciate seeing Europeans discover America isn’t what their leaders told them it was. Portlandiands should move there–for an even swap.
I still hate soccer
This is quite unlike Botswana next door, where Starlink had been in operation and scooping up customers for two years now. But Botswana is the only southern African country that ISN’T a basket case, and that’s the case because they’re generally good about avoiding these kinds of kleptocratic legal regimes.
27% unemployment though. Those diamonds can run out. One of the better nations still.
17%, from what I can see. Which is still high, but a lot of that stems from the crash in the international market for natural diamonds. They need to diversify their economy.
Still, Botswana has a better chance of righting the ship than any of its neighbors. Having access to Starlink will only help.
More Starlink news today:
1. SpaceX’s @Starlink will be installed on more than 80 giant Oldendorff ships.
https://www.basenor.com/blogs/news/starlink-lands-80-ship-deal-with-oldendorff-carriers
2. Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González Colón just announced that Starlink will help power emergency communications across all 78 Puerto Rico municipalities.
https://x.com/i/status/2069807896767107532
Why do I think there’s at least one person of Puerto Rican extraction who will not be turning handsprings at this news?
They’ll have some ‘splaining to do…