South African red tape will likely delay Starlink there for years to come
According to an article in South Africa yesterday, regulatory red tape and political demands in South Africa will likely block approval of Starlink in that country for years to come, if not forever.
Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi gazetted a draft policy direction on the role of EEIPs [Equity Equivalent Investment Programme] in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector on 23 May 2025. He explained that rules requiring electronic communications service providers to have 30% historically disadvantaged ownership prevented some companies from contributing to the country’s transformation in ways other than traditional ownership.
The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act and the ICT Sector Code supported the use of EEIPs to allow qualifying multinationals to meet empowerment obligations through alternatives. These can include investing in local suppliers, enterprise and skills development, job creation, infrastructure support, research and innovation, digital inclusion initiatives, and funding for small businesses.
However, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) ownership regulations do not provide for EEIPs.
In other words, the laws contradict each other, and to make it possible to issue any licenses for a foreign company like SpaceX, the government needs to resolve this conflict. That is expected to take years of political maneuvering.
Even if this issue is resolved, SpaceX has already said it would not agree to the racial quota system proposed. It has offered to instead provide Starlink for free to 5,000 schools. It is not clear if politicians in South Africa will consider that sufficient.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
According to an article in South Africa yesterday, regulatory red tape and political demands in South Africa will likely block approval of Starlink in that country for years to come, if not forever.
Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi gazetted a draft policy direction on the role of EEIPs [Equity Equivalent Investment Programme] in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector on 23 May 2025. He explained that rules requiring electronic communications service providers to have 30% historically disadvantaged ownership prevented some companies from contributing to the country’s transformation in ways other than traditional ownership.
The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Act and the ICT Sector Code supported the use of EEIPs to allow qualifying multinationals to meet empowerment obligations through alternatives. These can include investing in local suppliers, enterprise and skills development, job creation, infrastructure support, research and innovation, digital inclusion initiatives, and funding for small businesses.
However, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) ownership regulations do not provide for EEIPs.
In other words, the laws contradict each other, and to make it possible to issue any licenses for a foreign company like SpaceX, the government needs to resolve this conflict. That is expected to take years of political maneuvering.
Even if this issue is resolved, SpaceX has already said it would not agree to the racial quota system proposed. It has offered to instead provide Starlink for free to 5,000 schools. It is not clear if politicians in South Africa will consider that sufficient.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Communist regimes are not interested in their subjects having access to the open Internet.
The electrical grid in South Africa is…………….not. There are weekly 12 and 24 hour blackouts. If I were a resident with my own generator, I would be careful to not make it obvious, especially at night. With too many lights on at night in the middle of a blackout, you would stand out as having too much. From each according to their ability, to each according to their need. With the Communists deciding just how much electricity you “need.” One of the favorite Communist/Socialist words to use, whether it be food or energy, is “hoarding.” If you dare have more of anything, then you are classified as a hoarder. Your “extra” electricity must be “shared” with those less fortunate.
Unless you are a loyal Communist, a StarLink dish would stand out as a huuuuge indicator of just too much.
Elon Musk may be thinking about his emmigration: Best. Decision. Ever.
Hell, it took till 1975 for South Africa to get broadcast TV… this is NOTHING.
Good for Musk standing his ground about conditions for engaging in South Africa. There’ll be even more demand for Starlink when it becomes capable of direct to cell coverage.
However, I must put in a disclaimer – I live in a medium size town in South Africa. We haven’t had load shedding for quite some time – in fact the grid has been reasonably stable for more than a year. That doesn’t mean we don’t have power problems – the municipal infrastructure is dodgy and getting worse, and we have outages of a few hours on what seems to be a weekly basis. To mitigate this, many people have solar power systems, which, installed correctly, make such outages transparent. Additionally, in this climate, solar geysers are a no brainer.
As regards Internet access, South Africa is pretty well resourced. The small university in Grahamstown where I live and worked, had a 10 Gb/sec redundant connection before I retired some ten years ago.
I have had fibre to the home for about three years. Prior to this I had 8 Mb/sec ADSL via the local Telco for many years. In fact there are now three FTTH providers in town, plus of course the access provided by the cellular phone companies (which is comparatively expensive). FTTH became a thing during the pandemic, when many people in bigger centres working from home realised this meant they could relocate to their holiday home at the coast rather than in a suburb. My Internet is 50 Mb/sec uncapped, for which I pay about ZAR750 per month (approx USD35 per month). As an aside and just to rub in the economic mess we’re trying to survive in, I remember the days when the exchange rate was about ZAR0-70 to USD1-00 in comparison to the 20:1 of the present.
The people and sectors that would really benefit from Starlink are those living in the country on farms or smaller towns that do not yet have FTTH, and the less developed schools, mostly black and in rural areas that would need “bulk” bandwidth.
The issue, of course, is cost. It’s not clear what Starlink would cost locally, so I’m working off the USD100 per month being bandied about. I’m retired and thus don’t have much need for mobile Internet, so the $35 per month I’m paying also covers my Whatsapp communication needs – in fact my cellular usage is minimal – $5 (ZAR100) of airtime lasts me for months. Younger people mostly rely on cellular Internet, so the direct to cell future Starlink might become very appealing to them and be cost effective at the $100 rate, For me, I’d consider switching if it came down to maybe $50 to $70.
I suspect there’s other issues at play in addition to the SA governments B-BBEE nonsense, namely the incumbent communications providers in the both the cellular and FTTH space. You can bet they’re lobbying the govt like crazy to keep Starlink as far away from their golden goose as possible.
Thanks to Jake for the first hand testimony on the state of things on the ground.