What the termination of Starlink's service in SA means for future of internet access in the country?

Bruce Whitfield speaks to Jan Vermeulen, editor at MyBroadband.

If you've been using Starlink in South Africa, you'll find that it won't work by the end of April. 

The service is not approved by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), due to not meeting local ownership rules, which requires 30% of the company to be owned by historically disadvantaged groups, such as people of colour, women and disabled people. 

The company behind it, controlled by South African born billionaire Elon Musk, says its usage in this country is also due to a violation of its terms and conditions.

Starlink is a fleet of low earth orbit satellites that provide high-speed, low latency internet almost globally. 

Jan Vermeulen, editor at MyBroadband says thousands of people in South Africa are currently using this service. 

"I think it's important to understand that in the context of people who have not had anything ever before, or their only options have been relatively limited or relatively expensive satellite broadband, for them this technology is life changing."

- Jan Vermeulen, editor at MyBroadband

"Starlink provided a lifeline for those communities when loadshedding killed their only other form of connectivity."

- Jan Vermeulen, editor at MyBroadband

"Maybe there're some backroom talks that have not been publicised yet, that hopefully prevents this from happening, but as things stand today, yes, come 1st May, Starlink in South Africa will no longer work.

- Jan Vermeulen, editor at MyBroadband

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