South Africa is currently the only Southern African nation without a Starlink launch date. Communications Minister Solly Malatsi has emphasized the need for Starlink to engage with local regulations and show willingness to enter the market. Despite the company’s delays and regulatory hurdles, Malatsi assures that his office remains open to discussions. He believes that Starlink could significantly contribute to South Africa’s digital inclusion goals and economic growth.
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Satellite broadband service Starlink must be shown that it is welcome in South Africa and can launch and operate within the bounds of the country’s laws, communications minister Solly Malatsi has said.
South Africa recently became the only Southern African country without a Starlink launch date. The service is set to launch in all our neighbouring countries by the end of the year.
When SpaceX opened global pre-orders for Starlink in February 2021, it estimated the service would be available in South Africa by 2022.
Around November 2021, it shifted the availability dates for several countries and locations in the US, which also saw South Africa’s ETA pushed back to 2023.
Roughly a year later, in September 2022, Starlink changed South Africa’s estimated launch date again — this time to “unknown”.
While Starlink has remained silent about its reasons for not seeking to launch in South Africa, it’s an open secret that the main reason is the country’s local ownership requirements.
Currently, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) requires that companies acquiring national network licences be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups.
However, in March 2021, it introduced new regulations that would change this requirement to 30% black-owned.
Icasa has suspended this regulation until an undetermined future date, leaving South Africa’s broadband industry in perpetual limbo.
While regulatory uncertainty may cause Starlink to be reticent, local ownership requirements do not seem to be a general deal-breaker for the company.
Starlink has announced launches in countries where it will work through local agents to offer its services. It could do the same thing in South Africa.
During a recent interview with the minister, MyBroadband asked if Malatsi had received any word from Starlink confirming why it has sidelined South Africa.
Malatsi said Starlink has not yet contacted his office.
“I have tried to establish with the department whether there have been any previous efforts on the part of Starlink to initiate — at the very least a conversation — with the department about how it could possibly enter the South African market,” Malatsi said.
“So far, there is no record of an indication that Starlink has reached out to the department, or vice versa.”
Malatsi assured that his office would always be willing to engage and listen to anyone who could add value to South Africa’s economy.
He said in Starlink’s case, the service could add value towards South Africa’s stated ambition of pursuing digital inclusion by bridging the digital divide.
“In the next few weeks — hopefully soon — we will at least have an indication of how we can proceed on this conversation,” Malatsi said.
Malatsi said he gets tagged on Twitter daily by people asking him to bring Starlink to South Africa.
“Ultimately, you can only bring someone here who wants to come. But someone can only want to come if they will also be welcomed,” he said.
“So you’ve got to strike that balance, but I think we will be very proactive in saying where are the opportunities in the market that can help for digital inclusion — that is one of my priorities, and that is my interest.”
Malatsi said his office would examine every possible avenue within the confines of the law while ensuring that regulation does not inhibit opportunity but enhances it.
Regarding the regulatory uncertainty around historically disadvantaged versus black ownership for national network and service provider licences, Malatsi’s answer was indirect.
He explained that his department and Icasa don’t operate in a vacuum and must defer to cross-cutting regulations put in place by the Department of Trade and Industry.
However, he also said they all need to look at policy in such a way that it opens up doors for investment.
“For the South African fiscus to continue providing the social services that so many millions of South Africans are dependent on, we need to broaden the tax collection basket and revenues,” said Malatsi.
Malatsi said you can’t overtax private citizens, noting that the number of taxpayers has decreased in recent years.
“So you’ve got to be able to say, ‘How do we attract businesses to get into the economy?’ because arguably the biggest chunk of tax revenue comes from the business sector,” he said.
Therefore, if you can attract more investment, South Africa can keep funding its social programmes.
“More succinctly to your point, we are going to be proactive in looking at how we overcome regulatory interventions that suffocate the space for potential investments that can lead to job creation,” Malatsi promised.
Read also:
- SpaceX launches first Starlink satellites for global mobile coverage – Could SA fall further behind?
- Pentagon thwarts Russian use of SpaceX’s Starlink in Ukraine conflict
- Starlink defies restrictions, raises concerns in conflict zones
This article was first published by MyBroadband and is republished with permission
