LUCIEN PIERCE: The hypocrisy of the local anti-BEE Starlink fan club
Regulations limiting or promoting ownership, whether by foreigners or a particular local demographic, are not unique to SA
I used Starlink’s satellite internet access services while travelling through rural central Mozambique last December. It worked well and had impressive speeds. Starlink is available in Sub-Saharan nations Botswana, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe, but not in SA.
Some industry stakeholders are rabid about this. They generally blame it on a “BEE” requirement in SA’s Electronic Communications Act, even though Starlink itself has not complained. The act obliges telecommunication infrastructure and service providers that provide their services nationally to have 30% historically disadvantaged group (HDG) ownership. The definition of HDG is not clear (it seems to include women of any hue), but in position papers the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) indicates this to mean black people only. ..
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