US EditionSouth Africa is not changing policy to suit Musk's Starlink, minister says
- On May 23, 2025, South Africa’s Communications and Digital Technologies Ministry released a draft policy proposing alternative compliance options to the telecom sector’s 30 percent black ownership requirement.
- This move follows President Ramaphosa’s recent Washington meeting with US President Trump amid tense relations and aims to ease foreign investor restrictions in the telecom sector.
- The draft allows companies like Elon Musk’s Starlink to meet empowerment requirements through investments, job creation, and funding black-owned businesses instead of direct ownership.
- Malatsi clarified that the policy is not intended to offer special advantages to Starlink, but rather aims to create a stable and clear regulatory environment to encourage investment in the ICT sector.
- The policy is open for 30 days of public comment and could reshape South Africa’s telecom empowerment framework without exempting companies from contributing to economic inclusion.
98 Articles
98 Articles
South Africa denies watering down Black ownership rules for Musk's Starlink
Elon Musk's Starlink telecoms business will not be given special dispensation by South Africa to bypass the country's Black ownership requirements, Communications Minister Solly Malatsi said on Tuesday.
South Africa is not changing policy to suit Musk's Starlink, minister says
South Africa is not planning to water down its Black economic empowerment laws just to suit Elon Musk's Starlink, a minister said on Tuesday, responding to criticism of policy changes he announced days after President Cyril Ramaphosa met Donald Trump.
Malatsi denies ICT directive paves way for Elon Musk’s Starlink into South Africa – The Mail & Guardian
Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi on Tuesday defended his recently gazetted proposed ICT policy adjustments as intended to broadly attract investment into the sector, rather than to simply pave the way for Elon Musk’s Starlink to operate in South Africa, as critics have suggested. “We are not attempting to open a new dispensation for Starlink or any other company or individual,” Malatsi told parliament’s portfolio co…
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