Starlink South Africa roaming gets new features — but there is a catch

Starlink has launched new features for its roaming plans — including full support for in-motion use — but many of the service’s users in South Africa won’t benefit from the improvements.

The changes form part of Starlink replacing both the “Mobile — Regional” and “Global Roaming” plans with “Roam Unlimited”, a simplified option for those who need to be able to access the service outside their country of registration or while mobile.

Several Starlink roaming customers using its regional roaming subscription to access the service in South Africa shared emails detailing the main changes.

From 10 September 2024, these users get access to three additional features:

• Upgraded in-motion use at speeds up to 160km/h (previously limited to 16km/h)
• International reception (previously restricted to continental travel on Regional Roaming and only available on Global Roaming)
• Coastal reception in territorial waters

While these features can significantly enhance the roaming experience for some users, many former Starlink customers in South Africa are currently disconnected from the service.

Starlink suspended these users’ packages from mid-August 2024 due to the enforcement of a 60-day maximum continuous roaming use rule.

Because Starlink has not yet launched in South Africa, local users must import a kit from an officially supported country — typically one of more than a dozen in Africa—and subscribe to its more expensive regional roaming service.

While this worked for many months without issue, Starlink recently started implementing a system that suspends connections if users have been roaming for more than two months outside their country of registration.

After this period, the only way to re-enable Internet access on a roaming plan is to return the kit to its registered country and “phone home” by accessing Starlink from there.

While the rule has always been part of the roaming feature’s terms of service, Starlink only began implementing it in mid-August 2024.

Although the new Unlimited Roaming plan still has the 60-day maximum continuous use rule, it initially appeared as though the introduction of the new terms of service appeared to reset the counter used to implement the rule.

Several users who reset their routers were again able to use the service – at least for a few hours. However, some of them have again been disconnected.

Unofficial Starlink distributor IcasaSePush has launched a dedicated portal for tracking the latest methods through which Starlink roaming users in South Africa can stay online.

IcasaSePush offers a physical reset service to collect customers’ equipment, ship it to the country of registration, and access the Internet from there on their behalf before shipping the kit back to them.

Starlink illegal in South Africa — but approval could be coming

It should be emphasised that Starlink is officially considered “illegal” by South Africa’s official telecoms regulator — the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

In November 2023, Icasa first warned that Starlink’s operation and use in the country was illegal because it did not have the necessary operating licences.

Nonetheless, several thousand Starlink kits have been imported into South Africa and used to access the Internet by people and businesses living in remote areas with limited or poor broadband connectivity options.

On its official coverage map, Starlink’s estimated launch date for South Africa has been stuck at “unknown” for about two years. That is believed to be down to South Africa’s stringent telecoms ownership rules.

However, the country’s colour code on the map shows it is still on the waitlist for a launch and is not a total no-go area, like China, Iran, Russia, or Venezuela.

According to Elon Musk, CEO of Starlink parent SpaceX, the service is currently awaiting regulatory approval in South Africa.

While Icasa told MyBroadband it has yet to receive a formal application from Starlink to operate in the country, we also learned that one of the Starlink directors in charge of helping secure regulatory approvals was in the country at the time of Musk’s post.

A reputable source also told MyBroadband that more details relating to Starlink’s operation in South Africa would be shared if a “breakthrough” is achieved, suggesting high-level discussions between government authorities and Starlink representatives are potentially on the cards.

As it stands, Starlink roaming users who have the means to travel beyond the country’s border every two months can reset their 60-day counters by registering their kits in one of four neighbouring countries where the service has gone live — Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.

However, given the significant logistics involved in “phoning home” to get back online, the choice of registered country will likely depend on the user’s proximity to that country’s border, rather than the roaming subscription cost, which currently varies between R1846 and R1,900.