A consortium led by Actis, an investor in sustainable infrastructure, has completed the acquisition of a 100 per cent stake in Swiftnet, a telecom tower portfolio in South Africa. The Actis-led consortium, which includes international and local investors including the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC), a 100 per cent black-owned broad-based South African investment holding company, […]

A last-minute ruling by South Africa’s High Court postponed the nation’s planned analogue switch off of its TV signals, due on March 31st. The Court ruled in favour of broadcaster e.tv in its bid to stop communications minister Solly Malatsi from switching off analogue television broadcasts. E-tv, a free-to-air broadcaster, filed suit against the country’s […]

Officially, on March 31st, South Africa is obliged to switch-off its analogue TV transmissions. However, a High Court hearing in Pretoria suggests that – again – the switch-off could be delayed. The actual analogue switch-off date was originally set for December 31st 2006, in accordance with ITU rulings, and, while high-power transmissions were curbed in […]

Elon Musk has written on his social media platform X to complain that his Starlink satellite internet service is “not allowed to operate in South Africa because I’m not black”. The controversial posting immediately drew strong criticism from X users, including Clayson Monyela, South Africa’s head of public diplomacy, who branded it as “not true” […]

South Africa pay-TV broadcaster OnDigital Media, parent of StarSat, is no more. Fifteen years after being licensed, the company has been placed into liquidation. “OnDigital Media, the independent broadcasting licence holder that processed StarSat’s payments, has been liquidated,” Jan Hendrick Harmse, marketing manager at StarSat. This means that subscribers who pre-paid their annual viewing fees […]

South Africa has suspended talks over licensing SpaceX’s Starlink service in the country because of tensions with the Donald Trump administration in the US. A Bloomberg report says that “negotiators plan to wait until the dispute between the US and South Africa calm down, with the intention to return to a possible deal at a […]

Last week the South African government, via its ICASA telecoms regulator, held formal public consultations on a proposed licensing plan for satellite services in the country. But SpaceX, and therefore Starlink, declined to appear. SpaceX was due to make a presentation to the hearing, but failed to turn up. According to an ICASA spokeswoman, SpaceX […]

Remember those days when every commercial break seemed to feature a Wonga advertisement? Back in 2014, if you lived in the UK, Canada, many parts of Europe or even South Africa then the name likely rings a bell for you. While they share a brand name, the companies are independently run and today we’re focusing […]

SpaceX currently cannot operate in South Africa despite some apparent enthusiastic support from Cyril Ramaphosa, the nation’s president. SpaceX has formally asked for local telecoms regulator ICASA to modify its requirements. ICASA is to hold consultations starting on February 5th and 6th with interested stakeholders and the public. The filing is by SpaceX Internet Services […]