South Africa is facing regulatory challenges in obtaining a direct rollout of the Starlink satellite broadband service. SpaceX, the parent company of Starlink, has classified the country as a low-priority area due to stringent telecoms ownership requirements and regulatory hurdles. However, a local ISP called IT Lec has been bulk-importing Starlink kits and enabling over 2,600 sign-ups for the service with its roaming feature.
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IT Lec charges R15,000 for the Starlink kit and R1,799 per month for residential service with roaming. While awaiting solutions to the regulatory obstacles, the ISP is considering registering a Starlink account in Mozambique to serve neighboring countries and avoid export issues.
South Africa’s challenges in obtaining a direct Starlink rollout are mainly due to the Electronics Communications Act requirement, which states that telecoms licensees must be 30% owned by historically-disadvantaged groups. Additionally, the regulator has not issued any individual electronic communications services (ECS) or ECNS licenses in several years, which has negatively affected small ISPs contributing to industry goals.
IT Lec has temporarily paused pre-orders due to stock shortages in the countries where the kits originate, but hopes that a new Starlink production facility will resolve this issue by the end of the year. The ISP has also received requests from people in Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe who are interested in acquiring the service. IT Lec is considering registering a Starlink account in Mozambique to avoid regulatory hurdles with exporting to neighboring countries.
IT Lec has had talks with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to come to an agreement over its Starlink offering, but the regulator has not provided guidance on the way forward. Starlink does not appear to be enforcing its time limit on the roaming service, which requires users to return to the kit’s originating country every two months.
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