South Africa Denies It Banned Starlink Because Elon Musk Isn’t Black
On Friday, 7 March, South Africa rejected Elon Musk’s statement that his Starlink satellite company could not operate in the country because he is not Black. The country’s telecoms regulator shared that Starlink had not applied for a license, according to Reuters.
The founder of Starlink, who was born and went to school in South Africa, wrote on X, “Starlink is not allowed to operate in South Africa, because I’m not black.” Senior official at the foreign affairs department Clayson Monyela responded, “Sir, that’s NOT true, and you know it! It’s got nothing to do with your skin colour. Starlink is welcome to operate in South Africa provided there’s compliance with local laws.”
“This is a global international trade & investment principle,” she added. Microsoft, for example, recently announced that it would invest an additional $297 million in South Africa’s cloud and AI instrastructure by the end of 2027.
Local Black Economic Empowerment Rules
Musk was referring to local Black Economic Empowerment rules designed to mitigate racial inequalities formed under apartheid. These rules require foreign investors in South Africa’s telecom sector to allocate 30% of a project’s equity to Black-owned businesses to qualify for a license.
The policy is supported by the African National Congress Party (ANC), a political party in South Africa known for its opposition against apartheid.
Starlink has not applied for license in South Africa
South African technology news website TechCentral reported that Starlink’s parent company SpaceX wrote to telecommunications regulator ICASA in January that it should rethink the 30% ownership requirement for licenses. However, an ICASA spokesperson said, “ICASA has not received any application from Starlink or SpaceX.”
In February, ICASA created hearings to accumulate industry input on its suggested South African satellite services licensing framework. But, SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company owned by Elon Musk, told the telecom regulator that it would not engage in the oral hearings. This news came a few hours after SpaceX representatives failed to attend their upcoming presentation that morning.
Image: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
