Starlink has the potential to bridge the digital gap between urban and rural South Africa - Ernst van Zyl

Key topics:

• SA may drop race rules blocking Starlink’s rural internet rollout

• Starlink boosts safety, education, healthcare in remote communities

• AfriForum leads push to scrap discriminatory telecom regulations

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By Ernst van Zyl - AfriForum

Introduction

The South African government has recently published a proposal in the Government Gazette to relax racially discriminatory licensing criteria for satellite service companies such as Starlink.

AfriForum intensified its multifaceted campaign over the past year to have the regulatory barriers amended – in particular race-based policies – that are blocking Starlink in South Africa. Besides the fact that these race-based regulations are discriminatory and unjustifiable, Starlink’s technology holds enormous potential to benefit and economically empower millions of poor people in South Africa. Those who would benefit most are rural communities, game reserves, wilderness areas and farms, where cell phone signals are erratic or often completely absent, and where physical internet infrastructure would not be erected anytime soon. Urban communities can also benefit from the technology due to persistently high mobile data costs and when there is signal loss due to rolling blackouts or copper cable theft.

Context

While most who live in urban areas are quick to downplay the potential benefits of Starlink – ironically mostly on social media – the actual data paints a stark, contrasting picture. According to StatsSA’s 2024 General household survey, 27,2% of people living in South Africa’s metro areas have home internet access, compared to 2,7% of rural households. Furthermore, 17,2% of metro area residents have internet access at work, compared to only 2,7% of rural residents. Moreover, the vast majority of both urban and rural South Africans rely on mobile data to access the internet, which is some of the most expensive in the world. According to a 2023 Statista report, South Africa ranks 149th out of 237 countries in terms of affordable mobile data prices. It is within this context of the unequal urban/rural home internet access divide, as well as mass reliance on expensive mobile data to access the internet, that Starlink holds the biggest promise for making a significant positive impact.

Starlink’s technology will provide rural communities and the agricultural sector with a much needed internet access alternative that is currently unavailable to many and that could assist with education, business and, most importantly, security. Laying fibre optic cables in isolated areas is expensive, difficult and time-consuming due to various geographical challenges. Starlink’s satellite-based service can easily mitigate these barriers and eliminate the need for an extensive, expensive physical internet infrastructure. In this way, Starlink can bring connectivity to some of South Africa’s most isolated regions. Because Starlink provides its own infrastructure, it would save the government and local service providers billions of rands in internet infrastructure expansion projects.

Currently, only 8 of the 54 African countries do not have Starlink or do not have a timeframe for implementing Starlink availability. Starlink has been launched in five of South Africa’s six neighbouring countries, namely Eswatini, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, with Lesotho being the latest beneficiary. Only Namibia does not currently have Starlink, but it is expected to launch in the country before the end of 2025.

Security

The improved communication capabilities brought by Starlink would greatly assist in rural crime prevention and crime response times. The persistent scourge of farm attacks over many years in South Africa is for example one of the manifestations of the ongoing rural security crisis. An added complication is the fact that cell phone reception becomes weak or disappears during load shedding, or as a result of the theft of cell phone tower batteries. Furthermore, in the event of a national power grid collapse, Starlink could provide vital alternative communication channels for South Africans.

Starlink could save lives by enabling better response times for emergency services, as well as improving the communication capabilities of community safety structures. A stable internet connection is crucial for farm security in the form of emergency communication and for operating security cameras, which cover the entire property. Starlink will also have a positive impact on commercial fishing safety on the open seas. The National Sea Rescue Institute recently declared that Starlink will bolster their ability to respond to emergencies.

Healthcare

Rural South Africa suffers a dire lack of healthcare infrastructure, while access to quality medical services is difficult or fraught with challenges. Having access to Starlink will make it possible for patients in remote areas to contact healthcare professionals from far way. The telemedicine consultations and diagnostics that Starlink brings could save lives, because it circumvents long travel times that are associated with rural services. Reliable internet service can also empower healthcare workers in remote areas with improved access to information for diagnosis, analysis, treatment and medication.

Hanno Labuschagne provides an example of a rural problem that Starlink could address: cases where charity organisations must travel from isolated areas where patients live to areas with better cell phone reception in order to send X-rays to specialist doctors for analysis.

Education, business and social

The primary beneficiaries of Starlink’s services in rural areas would be schools and farms. The online or home schooling that Starlink enables would be a welcome alternative to sub-standard education, postal-based education or having to attend school several kilometres away from home. Schools in remote rural communities would greatly benefit from reliable internet access, whereby online educational and research resources will also be made available to these students and teachers.

Access to Starlink could be a game changer in how commercial farming facilitates the latest automating agricultural technologies through the extensive connectivity coverage that it enables. Even the most isolated farmers and rural businesses will be able to communicate with others in their industry through Starlink and will expand their market reach through access to online platforms. The resulting growth in local businesses will naturally stimulate local economies and lead to much needed new job opportunities.

A stable internet connection will bring the social benefits of providing those who live in rural areas access to new sources of news and information. It will also enhance their ability to connect with friends and family who are far way, and to communicate more effectively within their community. High-speed, quality communication between isolated neighbouring farms, for example, would no longer be a challenge. MyBroadband recently reported how Starlink made it possible for an elderly couple in rural KwaZulu-Natal to urgently communicate with emergency services and their family for the first time.

Conclusion

As I argued in AfriForum’s oral presentation during ICASA’s 2025 public hearings,  satellite-based technology such as Starlink can serve as a tool for sustainable economic and social empowerment, as well as security and healthcare improvements, especially in rural areas. If the government’s racist regulatory barriers stay in place, by the end of 2025 South Africa will likely be the only country in Southern Africa without Starlink. The Starlink saga is an exceptional example of the bitter harvest of the race laws that the South African government is desperately clinging to.