South Africa explores Chinese satellite broadband to bridge digital divide

Key topics:

• SA explores Chinese satellite broadband for rural connectivity

• Delegation meets CSNC to discuss digital collaboration

• Starlink expands across Africa, but delays persist in SA

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By Daniel Puchert

Following a recent visit to China, communications minister Solly Malatsi says his delegation explored satellite broadband solutions offered by the South African trading partner.

The delegation consisted of several members of Malatsi’s department and focused on furthering digital collaboration between the two countries to accelerate South Africa’s digital transformation.

Malatsi said he met with the China Satellite Network Company (CSNC), a state-owned entity that aims to offer a service similar to Elon Musk’s Starlink.

“During our discussions with the CSNC, we explored satellite broadband solutions designed to address last-mile connectivity challenges in rural and underserved communities,” the minister said.

“This aligns with our national priority to close the digital divide and ensure equitable access to essential services.”

According to reports, CSNC was established in 2021 to deploy and operate a 13,000-satellite broadband constellation.

Space News said at the time that China had previously submitted spectrum allocation filings to the International Telecommunications Union to construct two low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellations.

These constellations would comprise 12,992 satellites and several sub-constellations ranging from 500 to 1,145 kilometres above the Earth’s surface. 

Because of their low orbit, LEO satellites can support lower latency and greater bandwidth than geostationary satellites, which orbit the Earth over 30,000km above the equator.

Therefore, several companies have developed LEO satellite broadband services, which are expected to revolutionise Internet connectivity in rural areas.

The biggest and most well-known LEO service is SpaceX’s Starlink, which already has over 7,000 satellites beaming connectivity to more than 5.3 million customers globally.

While roughly 99% of South Africa is covered by LTE connectivity, accessing the Internet via mobile can be costly for many South Africans in rural areas.

In addition, according to a recent Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) report, only 14.5% of the country’s population has access to a fixed Internet connection.

Malatsi also mentioned that his delegation discussed several other measures to decrease the digital divide in South Africa.

The minister also mentioned meeting with Chinese tech firms Huawei and Honor to secure partnerships to improve access to smart devices for learners and entrepreneurs.

Malatsi also participated in the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance in Shanghai.

Starlink spreading across Africa

Nearly all of South Africa’s neighbours have legal access to Starlink within their borders, with Namibia expecting services to go live later this year.

South Africa was previously one of the first countries on Starlink’s list of planned rollouts, with pre-orders for the service launching locally in February 2021.

However, Starlink said it has yet to launch operations in South Africa because of the country’s ownership requirements for telecommunications network licences.

This meant South Africans had to sit and watch as Starlink launched in the first cohort of African countries at the beginning of 2023.

By the end of 2023, Starlink was operational within eight African countries: Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Benin, Rwanda, Kenya, and Eswatini.

Starlink’s African expansion gained momentum in 2024, and by the end of the year, its footprint had grown to 18 countries, including Mozambique, South Sudan, Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Madagascar.

So far, 2025 has seen three African countries launch Starlink — Niger, Liberia, and Lesotho — with another 18 expected to launch later this year.

Most countries cited Internet affordability and access as reasons for granting Starlink access to operate within their borders.

For instance, only 1.36 million people had access to the Internet in South Sudan in January 2024, according to a DataReportal report from January 2024.

That was one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the world at just 12.1%. Similarly, only 35.5% of the population had an active cellular connection in early 2024.

This presents an excellent use case for satellite connectivity, which is also why Somalia, a country currently disrupted by civil war, recently granted Starlink an operating license.

This article was originally published by MyBroadband and has been republished with permission.