South Africa looks to Elon Musk to help mend US ties, clear path for Starlink

Zain Johnson (in for 702 and CapeTalk's Africa Melane) is joined by Jan Vermeulen, Editor of MyBroadband.

Listen below:

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A new plan to bypass strict Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws might finally let Tesla boss Elon Musk’s satellite internet service Starlink come to South Africa.

South Africa-born Musk is expected to be in today's high-stakes meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump, with whom he has close ties.

But any help in easing tensions between the US and South Africa would certainly come with strings attached, say political experts.

A likely trade-off would be to relax rules that have kept Musk's satellite constellation system, Starlink, out.

Vermuelen says that when Starlink was looking at launching here in 2021, ICASA was 'messing around' with BEE laws.

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"... the Electronic Communications Act says that a licensee must be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups."

- Jan Vermuelen, Editor - MyBroadband

He adds that at the same time, something called the ICT Sector Code was being considered, which superseded the Act and would have required that a licensee be 30% Black-owned only.

"While it was looking at this... things went south and Starlink said, 'OK, we're going to look at South Africa later.'"

- Jan Vermuelen, Editor - MyBroadband

So is South Africa now bending the rules for Musk or simply creating fairer access for all, asks Johnson.

"This thing that's reportedly being discussed in Washington with Musk's team is nothing new. Solly Mahlatsi spoke about this last year, it was something that was approved by cabinet."

- Jan Vermuelen, Editor - MyBroadband

"I hope for our negotiators' sake that Musk and his negotiators fall for this, because this is going to happen anyway."

- Jan Vermuelen, Editor - MyBroadband

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