Starlink will be significant competitor to mobile operators in South Africa

[Jan]

Starlink will eat Vodacom and MTN's lunch

Handset-to-satellite communications technology being developed by Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) network operators like SpaceX’s Starlink could threaten South Africa’s mobile network operators.

This is according to telecommunications industry regulatory expert Dominic Cull, who told TechCentral that this fact is often overlooked when discussing Starlink’s legality in South Africa.

 

[r00igev@@r]

Elon, please call me. It was my idea and you owe me $49 Billion.

Buy a donkey (or gift a horse!)

 

[HartsockZA]

I'd be happy to help Starlink Deploy in the country so Mr Elon can come on through.

 

[R4ziel]

I'd be happy to help Starlink Deploy in the country so Mr Elon can come on through.

I also think this will be a good thing to have in the country to get rid of the MTN,Vodacom, Cell C monopoly. If the service works even marginally better people would flock to it without second thought, I know I would

 

[lkpat]

No it won't.
Starlink doesn't have that kind of bandwidth to compete with land based mobile operators.
Certainly where Vodacom and MTN don't operate or couldn't care less they will eat them for breakfast, but that's not business Voda or MTN actually want. It's more a grudge investment to keep clients who migrate between poorly serviced areas and home happy.

 

[MrGray]

"They can shake their fist at the sky".

(Elon Musk, 1 September, 2021).

 

[Swa]

Only if the locals continue to not offer value. The problem with this argument is that satellite is regulated internationally and not locally so which rules does everyone have to follow?

 

[LinuxMan]

bring the competition

 

[system32]

Starlink will eat Vodacom and MTN’s lunch

Starlink will be significant competitor to mobile operators in South Africa

No it won't.

Cell phone <-> Satellite data will be limited due to physics of distance.
Will be used for emergency sms / voice / light data usage in bush areas.
You will need a Dishy McFlatface for decent bandwidth.

Where Starlink make sense is in rural / bush / farm / ocean areas where there is no Fibre/LTE/WISP signal.
ICASA blocking these users is not good for these un-served users.

For that, Starlink’s local subsidiary or partner will have to comply with ownership requirements stipulated in the Electronic Communications Act - aka historically disadvantaged groups (HDG).

Tell that to those "currently disadvantaged groups (CDGTM)" in rural / bush / farm / ocean areas who don't have decent access to the internet.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Id love to see Icasa fight with Starlink to prevent their service working in SA.

 

[system32]

Id love to see Icasa fight with Starlink to prevent their service working in SA.

ICASA can shake fist at sky.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

ICASA can shake fist at sky.

didn't they ban skype at the time, because it threatened telkoms monopoly,
didn't they also try ban whatsapp calling?

sure they will do everything in their power to ban starlink, but fail hopelessly.

 

[PaulGherkin]

Currently Disadvantaged make less than the cost of Starlink- tough choice between choosing to eat and having communications. At the moment cheap phone and prepaid SIM could be had for less than R200

 

[Johand]

If starlink is a threat to MTN and Vodacom then they have some serious business model problems.

Starlink is great but people keep making out if it is magic. It doesn't work at high densities and it isn't meant for it. It ain't going to replace cell phones or fibre in cities anytime soon.

 

[wingnut771]

No it won't.
Starlink doesn't have that kind of bandwidth to compete with land based mobile operators.
Certainly where Vodacom and MTN don't operate or couldn't care less they will eat them for breakfast, but that's not business Voda or MTN actually want. It's more a grudge investment to keep clients who migrate between poorly serviced areas and home.

What about the people that lose signal during loadshitting?

 

[Johand]

What about the people that lose signal during loadshitting?

What about them? If there is a couple of users living in the cities then fine. But bandwidth in a satelitte's footprint is shared - you can't have high density. Starlink restricts sales geographically as well. So no - no threat to MTN and Vodacom.

 

[Fuzzbox]

How long will we have the stigma of HDG.
30 years on and nothing has changed.

 

[Tun@]

On the flip side they collect revenue for calls/texts etc from areas where it wouldn't normally be able to happen or where they have zero infrastructure.











.

 

[lkpat]

No it won't.

Cell phone <-> Satellite data will be limited due to physics of distance.
Will be used for emergency sms / voice / light data usage in bush areas.
You will need a Dishy McFlatface for decent bandwidth.

Where Starlink make sense is in rural / bush / farm / ocean areas where there is no Fibre/LTE/WISP signal.
ICASA blocking these users is not good for these un-served users.


Tell that to those "currently disadvantaged groups (CDGTM)" in rural / bush / farm / ocean areas who don't have decent access to the internet.

It also makes sense where there's extended load shedding.

 

[lkpat]

What about the people that lose signal during loadshitting?

Well yes, that is a uniquely south African issue that has an effect for sure, but if we all used starlink like we use mobile operators, it would fall over.

The only guarantee they provide is 5mbps