Elon Musk’s plans to start Starlink broadband services in South Africa are currently stymied. But he is reportedly planning an ambitious work-around with a 2 billion Rand (€96m) overall investment in the Southern Africa region to get around local Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) regulations. South Africa’s Business Day reports that Musk will use the investment […]
Starlink is unlikely to gain permission to operate in South Africa any time soon, according to a local communications sector expert. Dominic Cull, a regulatory expert at communications sector legal advisory firm Ellipsis, said it will be at least two years before new regulations will be in place to allow for equity equivalents – and […]
MultiChoice Group has reported that it “demonstrated resilient operational performance” for the year ended March 2024, delivering a 26 per cent trading profit margin in South Africa, while increasing trading profit in the Rest of Africa by 48 per cent, despite a challenging macro-economic conditions. Clear strategic milestones were reached, with the group successfully launching […]
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system is not authorised or licensed by South Africa. Recent discussions between SpaceX and South Africa’s licensing authorities could see this prohibition lifted. However, there are reportedly thousands of Starlink users in South Africa. The users have imported equipment from neighbouring states where Starlink is authorised and have accessed Starlink via its […]
Elon Musk’s previous comments that South Africa’s government was allegedly “racist” were raised during the tense meeting between President Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House last week. Musk was present during the meeting but did not speak. South African billionaire Johann Rupert did speak and moved to quell tensions with remarks that […]
France’s Canal+ and South African pay-TV broadcaster Multichoice have been informed that the South Africa’s Competition Commission recommended Canal+ takeover of MultiChoice Group will be approved, with conditions, clearing a significant hurdle. Conditions include funding commitments for the production of local South African general entertainment and sport content, and funding local content creators. Canal+, which […]
South African pay-TV giant MultiChoice has reported that a civil case against Uni Li Cell has concluded, which involved 5,000 imported power supply units for use with MultiChoice decoders. The proceedings, under the Counterfeit Goods Act, saw Uni Li Cell and its sole director — who the company hasn’t named – following the seizure of […]
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has announced that SABC Plus, its OTT streaming platform, has reached 1 million registered users since its relaunch in July 2024. The surge in registrations has been largely attributed to live sports broadcasts, which have regularly attracted over 60,000 new users per major game. Additionally, the recent #SwitchToStream campaign […]
A carriage agreement between South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC and pay-TV operator MultiChoice struck in 2013 and which saw MultiChoice carry SABC’s channels on its system has emerged from a legal problem. South Africa’s Competition Tribunal on April 14th said it had dismissed an “exception application” brought by MultiChoice over a channel-supply agreement with the […]
South African pay-TV operator MultiChoice, the parent company of pay-TV platforms DStv and GOtv, has reportedly suffered a substantial loss of subscribers over the past two years. According to Citizen SA, the company has seen its subscriber base drop by 3.7 million, falling from 23 million to an overall total of 19.3 million. This decline […]