Starlink smuggling into South Africa
South Africans can bring Starlink equipment into the country without smuggling it over the border illegally.
A recent X post from PSAFLIVE, which describes itself as an independent news and current affairs provider, alleged Starlink kits were being smuggled from neighbouring countries and sold in South Africa.
The post included a video from a person showing a Starlink Mini dish installed on a building’s roof, with the Starlink app showing it as operational.
The narrator claims that the installation was done in the North West province with equipment from Botswana, where Starlink is licensed to operate.
They also joke about not having to wait for Starlink to get local launch approval. “We don’t wait for Elon Musk; Elon Musk will find us operating,” they said.
The video makes no mention that the kit was smuggled into the country, as the PSAFLIVE account alleged. The narrator only makes mention of “finding a way” to use Starlink in South Africa.
The truth is that plenty of Starlink products already have type approval in South Africa and are being cleared through South African Revenue Service customs offices at border posts without issue.
MyBroadband previously spoke to several unofficial distributors of Starlink kits, who were bringing dozens of these products into the country without hiding them from customs officers.
They explained that they did not have to smuggle the hardware into the country and could declare it without issue using type-approval certificates.
The only case in which a kit would need to be smuggled is if someone wanted to avoid paying import duties on the products, which is illegal.
The latest list of type-approved products on the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) website includes several Starlink products.
In addition to three Starlink user terminal antennas (UTAs) and one user terminal router (UTR), the services’ ground station gateways have also been type-approved.
While the UTAs and UTRs are for consumers, the latter refers to the antenna and supporting equipment used at ground stations that connect Starlink’s satellites with terrestrial Internet infrastructure.
| Model name | Product |
|---|---|
| Starlink UTA-221 | Starlink Gen 2 High-Performance Actuated Dish |
| Starlink UTR-211 | Starlink Gen 2 Wi-Fi Router |
| Starlink Dish UTA-212 | Starlink Gen 2 Standard Actuated Dish |
| Starlink Dish UTA-231 | Starlink Mini Dish (router built-in) |
| Starlink Satellite Earth Station Gateway | Ground station antenna for connecting to terrestrial Internet networks |
Using Starlink in South Africa still unlawful
It should be emphasised that although owning Starlink hardware may not be illegal in South Africa, using the service is.
Starlink requires an electronic communications service and electronic communications network service licence from Icasa to operate in South Africa.
To apply for these licences, an entity must be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups. Other satellite operators have partnered with local firms that meet this requirement to launch in South Africa.
Starlink’s business model for its residential and business services is to go direct-to-consumer, which keeps costs down and allows for complete control over the user experience.
It wants to use equity equivalent investment programmes (EEIPs) as an alternative option to comply with South Africa’s broad-based black economic empowerment laws to obtain the necessary licences.
While Starlink’s primary residential and business subscriptions for fixed use are not yet available locally, its roaming service works in South Africa.
No instruction to block roaming — For now
Several other African countries have previously blocked Starlink after discovering its roaming service was operating in their jurisdiction without a licence.
One example close to home is Namibia, where Starlink has been completely offline since November 2024 following a cease-and-desist letter from that country’s communications regulator.
Icasa has not issued a similar instruction to Starlink, despite dozens of people using the service in South Africa in the three years since roaming was launched.
Starlink has made it more difficult to use the roaming package for more than two months at a time. However, some individuals with contacts and addresses in neighbouring countries are finding ways to circumvent this.
In May 2025, Icasa said it had deployed inspection teams to conduct physical verifications that Starlink services were not being used in the country.
“This operation is being executed in collaboration with other relevant organs of state to ensure a coordinated and lawful response,” Icasa said.
Icasa chairperson Mothibi Ramusi said the authority would lodge a formal complaint with the International Telecommunication Union if it found that Starlink was operating in the country.
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