{"id":643378,"date":"2026-04-24T12:42:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=643378"},"modified":"2026-04-24T12:44:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T10:44:50","slug":"malatsi-wants-answers-about-slow-progress-on-rules-that-will-allow-starlink-to-launch-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/643378-malatsi-wants-answers-about-slow-progress-on-rules-that-will-allow-starlink-to-launch-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Malatsi wants answers about slow progress on rules that will allow Starlink to launch in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Communications minister Solly Malatsi has said he will engage the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa to understand why it has made little progress on his May 2025 policy direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister’s policy direction instructed the regulator to align its rules with the full scope of the BEE ICT Sector Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would include the recognition of equity-equivalent investment programmes (EEIPs) in the ICT sector, enabling operators such as SpaceX’s Starlink to acquire licences in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (ICASA) Annual Performance Plan for 2026\/27 mentioned the policy directive, it set no related performance indicators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about this, Malatsi told MyBroadband that he would engage with ICASA, through which he expects to receive reasons for the lack of sufficient detail in the policy direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The law is clear that ICASA must consider the policy direction, and the expectation is that it must happen within a reasonable time,” the minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The consideration of the policy direction cannot continue in perpetuity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, operators must be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups (HDGs) to qualify for licences to operate a network and offer telecommunications services nationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malatsi has proposed amending this requirement so that EEIPs can be recognised as an alternative to HDG ownership rules for telecommunication licences in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His department recently doubled down on the proposal in a statement announcing his approval for the extension of Dell’s EEIP application in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Malatsi’s department, South Africa has reached a pivotal moment, with high youth unemployment, a growing digital skills gap, and persistent systemic barriers faced by small businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“EEIPs are a legally recognised pathway for investment in South Africa for companies that do not have local shareholding,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that EEIPs ensure inclusion by allowing foreign firms to invest in the country while committing to broader empowerment goals through a series of measurable outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These can include outcomes relating to enterprise development, job creation, and doing business with SMMEs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New rules for satellite Internet operators in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While ICASA’s performance plan lacked sufficient detail on Malatsi’s policy direction, it did explain that it was working on a new licensing framework for satellite Internet operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It specifically named Starlink, which has refused to launch locally because of South Africa’s current 30% HDG ownership requirement to qualify for telecommunications licences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starlink said that it supports transformation and would, as a start, supply 5,000 rural schools with free broadband<\/a> worth R500 million to comply with future EEIP requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICASA said it was developing the framework to address the widening digital divide in remote parts of the country and to encourage investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The goal is to create a transparent, efficient, and sustainable regulatory environment that fosters investment, competition, and the expansion of satellite services,” the regulator said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It explained that the new framework aimed to increase access to Internet connectivity in rural areas of South Africa and reduce cross-border communication costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Newer ICT technologies and infrastructure are needed in the rural, remote, and underserved areas to mitigate the widening of the digital divide,” it said, listing satellite operators as a possible solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“ICASA will monitor the impact of satellite-based services and their potential role in providing more affordable cross-border communications.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICASA said the framework’s development was a multi-year project with set completion goals. It initiated the process in 2025\/26 and received Council approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said this represents 75% of the total process. The remaining steps will be concluded in the 2026\/27 financial year when the “Final Satellite Regulation” is approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its next step will be conducting public hearings on the draft final regulations \u2014 the final step before the regulations are approved in the fourth quarter of 2026\/27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, these regulations are unrelated to Malatsi’s policy direction which instructed the regulator to align its regulations with the full scope of the BEE ICT Sector Code.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Communications minister Solly Malatsi wants ICASA to answer for its slow progress on his policy direction for EEIPs in the ICT sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":643384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[12521,100040,18090,76862,11375,48987],"class_list":["post-643378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-b-bbee","tag-equity-equivalent-investment-programmes-eeips","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-solly-malatsi","tag-spacex","tag-starlink"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643378"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643378"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":643390,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643378\/revisions\/643390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}