Starlink unstoppable in South Africa

While technically considered illegal in South Africa, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet service has continued to see its user base grow locally and is even being advertised in the open at major events.

Despite a lot of public awareness around the service’s adoption, there has also been little attempt by the country’s telecommunications regulator to crack down on the service, at least in the public domain.

Starlink’s estimated launch date in South Africa has remained unknown since late 2022, after it had initially planned to roll out in the country that year.

The delay is due regulatory uncertainty in South Africa around local ownership.

South Africa’s Electronic Communications Act requires that telecoms licensees be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups.

However, industry regulator Icasa introduced new regulations in its 2021 ICT Sector Code that would require 30% black ownership.

Icasa never put this regulation into operation, but can do so at any moment, leaving a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the sector.

Regardless, Starlink’s roaming feature has allowed people who imported dish kits from overseas to use the service in unsupported countries — including South Africa.

There are several large Starlink community groups on social media platforms where users assist each other with procuring the kits and activating their services while avoiding numerous scam operators.

One such active group has amassed over 16,000 users and has multiple new posts every day, each with plenty of comments from helpful fellow users.

Many hope that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the United States this week will result in overcoming South Africa’s regulatory hurdles for Starlink.

While some have brought their kits into the country themselves, many have paid extra for unofficial importers like IcasaSePush to get their Starlink dish and antenna.

IcasaSePush has built up a solid reputation for helping people get their kits and registering their accounts in a desired country.

The company’s offering has continuously evolved to address emerging issues with the service — including Starlink’s imposition of a 60-day continuous use rule.

The policy requires that users access their service in the country where it is registered at least once every two months.

While some users are doing this themselves, IcasaSePush launched a special service where it would collect, transport, and reactivate a kit on a customer’s behalf.

The company recently even advertised its Starlink offering with a promotional discount at the biggest agricultural convention in South Africa — Nampo.

At the event, it used Starlink connectivity to support free Wi-Fi services at one of the beer tents.

No cases of public enforcement so far

Starlink’s continued use in South Africa comes despite the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) warning its operation in the country is “illegal” in November 2023.

Icasa has warned that anyone who provides a telecommunications service without a licence or without registering as required is guilty of offending the ECA.

They could be liable for a fine of up to R5 million or 10% of annual turnover, whichever is greater.

However, despite the suggestion that Icasa has powers to act against Starlink, it has still not acted against the company.

The South African government also has not followed other states which instructed Starlink to block the service in their countries.

Even so, it may be difficult for people who are used to high-quality Internet in populated areas to grasp exactly why someone would risk falling on the wrong side of the law.

Those thoughts may quickly dissipate once they have had the opportunity to see Starlink in action, especially in an area with poor or no cellular connectivity.

Starlink’s setup is quick and painless. The dish requires only a 110-degree unobstructed view of the sky and less than 100W of power to get connected to the Internet.

It also offers much faster speeds and lower latency than older geosynchronous satellite Internet services, which are the only legal option available to many of Starlink’s early adopters in South Africa.

Recent speed tests on MyBroadband show Starlink can easily achieve download speeds over 200Mbps and upload speeds around 20Mbps in South Africa.

GEO satellite services available to home users typically have a peak of around 20Mbps download speeds.

That speed on a GEO service will also cost far more monthly than Starlink’s roaming subscription in African and European countries — currently varying between about R1,500 and R2,000.

Starlink only getting better in South Africa

Starlink’s recent addition of local points-of-presence (POPs) at NAPAfrica and the Johannesburg Internet Exchange (JINX) has drastically improved the service’s latency across Southern Africa.

Starlink users in South Africa have reported pings reducing from well over 100ms to under 30ms, making the service competitive with fixed-LTE.

It is also far more suitable for use in delay-sensitive applications like video calling and online competitive gaming.

While Starlink does not have any ground stations in South Africa, it did roll out a facility near our border in Mozambique in March 2025.

This allows Starlink satellites in Southern Africa to receive and send data directly from and to the ground instead of having to bounce communication between satellites.

That communication is then routed via underground long-distance cables to NAPAfrica and JINX, where lots of local and international companies host services and content.

IcasaSePush told MyBroadband another advantage of Starlink’s local POP is that local users are now being assigned with South African IP addresses.

That means that workarounds are no longer required to access apps with restrictions on international usage, such as DStv Stream and the local versions of Disney+ and F1 Pro.

While other low-earth orbit satellite services — including Amazon’s are set to come online in the next few years.