Van Deventer, Dowlath & Marx Inc director Cor van Deventer calls for temporary licence waivers for global satellite Internet players

[mylesillidge]

Legal expert calls for short-term licence waivers for Starlink and Amazon Leo in South Africa

A lawyer specialising in corporate, commercial, regulatory, and property law has called for temporary waivers on licensing for global satellite Internet to plug glaring rural connectivity gaps in South Africa.

Van Deventer, Dowlath & Marx Inc director Cor van Deventer argued that rural communities cannot wait for legal reform so that they can benefit from the game-changing benefits of services like Starlink.

 

[juanthyme]

sigh. going to be a long week.

 

[Bad Ballie]

Not going to happen, The ANC want full control, so Starlink will never be allowed, Amazon might but will take years if not decades to catch up to Starlinks network roll out, The South African government is decades away from competing with either on any level, but thats the way it will go because they can control the network.

 

[bwana]

Not going to happen, The ANC want full control, so Starlink will never be allowed, Amazon might but will take years if not decades to catch up to Starlinks network roll out, The South African government is decades away from competing with either on any level, but thats the way it will go because they can control the network.

They don't necessarily need to "catch up" to Starlink in order to provide coverage for SA, do they?

 

[Bad Ballie]

They don't necessarily need to "catch up" to Starlink in order to provide coverage for SA, do they?

Not really, depending on whether they use Geosynchronous satellites, which is likely, but then they are going to be feeding everything back into the existing 'cable system' which isn't ideal.

 

[FiestaST]

Word of the week: Leo.

 

[blunt]

cos gov will listen to boertjie + co asking for a waiver of a bee laws

 

[quovadis]

I'm guessing the definition of "rural communities" differs ...

 

[Bad Ballie]

Who is "they"?

The South African version of satellite, you know the one, with one in orbit and that's about it.

 

[quovadis]

Amazon might but will take years if not decades to catch up to Starlinks network roll out

Not decades. Probably a few years to catch up but without having to spend their time replenishing everything thats retired/de-orbited. With the advancements in satellite technology you can do more with less too.

 

[bwana]

Who is "they"?

They would be Amazon, as indicated.

 

[Brian_G]

Well, any way we look at it the pressure is on and mounting. That's good for SA regardless of which side of the fence we sit.

 

[AstroTurf]

The cadres have already earmarked those BBAEE positions for their fellow cadres, don't come with logic and reason if it does not have a cushy cash cow attached.

 

[JustAsk]

Only a lawyer would say that...scum of the earth.

Radio frequencies are leased, and that lease needs to be paid every year. The license becomes an asset, but here's a paid idiot advocating for a free handout for 2 big companies, while the rest pay as usual.

And as usual the sheeple just blindly react to it.

 

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

Only a lawyer would say that...scum of the earth.

Radio frequencies are leased, and that lease needs to be paid every year. But here's a paid idiot advocating for a free handout for 2 big companies, while the rest pay as usual.

And as usual the sheeple just blindly react to it.

And as per usual, the sheeple's blood runs cold whenever a lawyer speaks.. or sends a letter

 

[Brian_G]

Only a lawyer would say that...scum of the earth.

Radio frequencies are leased, and that lease needs to be paid every year. But here's a paid idiot advocating for a free handout for 2 big companies, while the rest pay as usual.

And as usual the sheeple just blindly react to it.

It's a voting year, anything is possible in this crazy land.

 

[quovadis]

Openserve began littering our village with poles. Some slap in front of 10-20 mil homes with sea and lagoon views. Pretty soon a LEO operator will be availalbe and Openserve infrastructure will be neglected.

Why would people opt for LEO over a stable fibre connection?

 

[quovadis]

Radio frequencies are leased, and that lease needs to be paid every year. The license becomes an asset, but here's a paid idiot advocating for a free handout for 2 big companies, while the rest pay as usual.

And as usual the sheeple just blindly react to it.

Valid points as much as many incumbents are disliked.

 

[Brian_G]

They wouldn’t, but openserve has had well over 50+ outages this year so far. Most lasting days. Providing Fiber to the sticks and distributing above ground has its challenges it seems.

Vandals, thieves etc have a much, much longer trunk to damage between us and the nearest big exchange and most of it is away from law enforcement’s eyes.

LTE was our answer for similar, and then they started over-subscribing and throttling

Will have to see what develops, but there clearly are some interested markets.