Confusion over Starlink in South Africa
September 11, 2024
By Chris Forrester
On September 8th Elon Musk told an enquirer on X that Starlink’s satellite broadband service is awaiting regulatory approval in South Africa. However, according to regulator Icasa, it has not received a licence application.
Icasa made an unambiguous statement on September 9th saying: “Please note that Icasa has not received an application [from Starlink] as yet.”
The enthusiasm from potential South Africa subscribers follows on from permissions now granted to Starlink from neighbouring Zimbabwe and six other nearby nations, all of which have approved Starlink for local access.
Reportedly Starlink has received South Africa ‘Type Approval’ for its modem and receive/transmit antenna dish and the probable teleport gateways (in the names of Paratus and UK-based Magic Space Dust). Paratus is an acknowledged partner of Starlink and is a distribution specialist.
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