A claim by SpaceX founder Elon Musk that Starlink is awaiting regulatory approval in South Africa appears to be unfounded.
Communications regulator Icasa told TechCentral on Monday that, despite a post by Elon Musk on his social media platform X at the weekend that Starlink’s satellite broadband service is awaiting regulatory approval in South Africa, the regulator has not received a licence application.
“Please note that Icasa has not received an application [from Starlink] as yet,” an Icasa spokeswoman told TechCentral on Monday in response to a query.
Musk’s reply on Sunday to a post by X user Boer about the likely launch date of Starlink comes after neighbouring Zimbabwe became the seventh nation in the region to get Starlink services before South Africa.
TechCentral reported in December 2023 that Icasa had indeed received type approval certificate applications for Starlink end-user equipment. An application for an operating licence is yet to arrive, however, according to the Icasa spokeswoman.
Perhaps an application for a licence is imminent. However, the availability map on Starlink’s website still reports on South Africa that the “service date is unknown at this time”. All other countries in Southern Africa either have the service already commercially available, or estimated launch dates are provided.
‘Interested’
“It should be abundantly obvious that you cannot apply for type approvals for Starlink kit without Starlink’s explicit authority,” said Dominic Cull, regulatory advisor to the Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa) in an interview with the TechCentral Show (TCS) late last year.
“So, now we have a link to say that Starlink is interested in South Africa, to the extent that they have bothered to get their core equipment type approved,” Cull said. “They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t have an intention of entering the South African market.”
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The products that Icasa granted type approval for and the companies that applied for them are a Starlink router, for which Data X Lab was the applicant, and two gateways, for which Paratus and Magic Space Dust were the applicants.
Paratus is one of Starlink’s pan-African distribution partners, while Data X Lab is a specialist service provider that helps companies interact with regulators like Icasa.
TechCentral was not able to ascertain what Magic Space Dust does as the company does not have a website. However, it appears the firm is registered in Leeds in the UK.
Speculation about black shareholding requirements in South Africa discouraging Starlink from applying for an operating licence in South Africa were rubbished by Cull in his interview. Musk has also not voiced concern about the licensing requirements.
Cull said such requirements are similar to those placed on any other international telecoms company wanting to do business in South Africa.
Waiting for regulatory approval
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 8, 2024
Neither Starlink, nor parent company SpaceX, have made any formal comments about when operations are likely to commence in South Africa. Despite Musk’s post at the weekend on X, it seems those wanting the service will have to wait even longer for news of a local launch. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
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