Starlink Setback as ICASA Blocks Malatsi's B-BBEE Policy Direction

Starlink setback as ICASA blocks Malatsi's B-BBEE policy direction

The hopes of securing Elon Musk’s Starlink have been dealt a blow after the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) effectively shut down Communications Minister Solly Malatsi’s December 2025 policy direction on broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) without amending the Electronic Communications Act (ECA). On Wednesday, ICASA said it had communicated its position to the Department of Communication and Digital Techn…

👨🏿‍🚀TechCabal Daily – No space for Starlink in SA

In partnership with Lire en Français اقرأ هذا باللغة العربية Happy pre-TGIF. Elon Musk got a double whammy yesterday, at home and abroad. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified against him in court, saying Musk wanted control of OpenAI for himself and even floated passing it to his children. And back home in South Africa, talks over equity equivalence rules that would have let Starlink operate in the country appear to be dead. Read more in today’s n…

Icasa says South Africa needs new legislation for Starlink

South Africa’s communications regulator Icasa continues to defy the nation’s Communications Minister Solly Malatsi’s demand that permission be given for SpaceX’s Starlink to operate in the country. In a statement on May 13th, Icasa said that to grant such permission would need an amendment to the country’s Electronic Communications Act (ECA). Icasa says it had […]

Icasa Dims Hopes For Starlink In South Africa : The Africa

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) says implementing equity equivalent investment programmes (EEIPs) in the ICT sector would require a legislative amendment to the Electr

Another blow for Elon Musk's Starlink in South Africa

Starlink’s foray into South Africa ran into a wall again after the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) refused to tinker with regulations. The telecommunications regulator, in a statement on Wednesday, 13 May 2026, repelled attempts by Communications Minister Solly Malatsi to introduce equity equivalent investment programmes (EEIPs) as an alternative to the mandatory 30% black ownership requirement for licensing. ICASA s…