Satellite operators wanting to launch a constellation-based service such as Starlink in South Africa cannot obtain the necessary network licence from the regulator at present, and their realistic route into the market is to acquire one from an existing licence holder, communications regulator Icasa has said.

In a notice (PDF) published in the Government Gazette on Monday, signed by chairman Mothibi Ramusi on 24 June, Icasa has set out – at the request of “various” prospective satellite operators – exactly which licences a constellation service requires: an individual electronic communications service (I-ECS) licence, an individual electronic communications network service (I-ECNS) licence and the relevant radio frequency spectrum licences.

Under the Electronic Communications Act (ECA), Icasa may accept and consider I-ECNS applications only in terms of a policy direction issued by the communications minister, and only once it has published an invitation to apply. No such invitation is open. On the contrary, the authority notes that the department of communications & digital technologies directed it on 22 August 2025 to first hold an inquiry into the need for new I-ECNS licences – an inquiry that is still under way.

With the front door shut, Icasa points to a side one. An entity wanting an I-ECNS or I-ECS licence “in the absence of a policy directive and/or an ITA (invitation to apply)”, the notice says, “may enter into commercial negotiations” with an existing licensee to take transfer of its licence. In plain terms: if you cannot get a new licence from the regulator, buy an old one from a company that already holds it. Such transfers are lodged under section 13 of the ECA and must be initiated by the seller.

This suggests the quickest legal path for a new entrant is to acquire or strike a deal with an already-licensed South African operator rather than wait out the regulatory logjam – a logjam that has become one of the more bruising fights inside the government of national unity.

Policy direction

Icasa’s notice comes amid the stalled effort to clear a path for Elon Musk’s Starlink. Communications minister Solly Malatsi issued a policy direction in December 2025 instructing Icasa to recognise equity-equivalent investment programmes as an alternative to the ECA’s requirement that licensees be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups – the rule SpaceX has refused to meet.

But in May, Icasa told the minister it could not give full effect to that direction without an amendment to the ECA itself, throwing the question to the slow-moving Electronic Communications Amendment Bill. Monday’s notice does not mention Starlink, and applies equally to rivals such as Eutelsat OneWeb and Amazon Leo.

Read: Namibia tells Starlink to take a hike – again

There is a second hurdle in the notice that has had little attention: lawful interception. Where the gateway earth station serving a South African constellation sits outside the country – as is typical for low-Earth orbit networks – the applicant “should demonstrate to the authority how lawful interception will be done”, Icasa said, bringing the service within the reach of South Africa’s interception laws. Operators must also hold type-approved equipment and apply for the full spectrum range a constellation uses. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media