By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Starlink has begun disconnecting South African users who accessed its satellite internet service through its roaming plans in an “unauthorised territory.”
This move comes amid a regulatoy crackdown by Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), which has reiterated that the company is not licensed to operate locally.
The company explained that its availability hinges on regulatory approvals, which are subject to change, as outlined in its Terms of Service.
Users were given two options: cancel their subscriptions or access the service from a country where Starlink is officially licensed, such as Nigeria or Kenya. “As soon as we receive regulatory approvals to turn on Starlink services, we will let you know,” the company added.
Icasa chair Mothibi Ramusi confirmed that the regulator had launched a formal investigation, including inspections in the Northern Cape, where it confiscated Starlink equipment from ICASAsePUSH.
Ramusi clarified, “We confiscated equipment which related to SpaceX, the company that owns Starlink. Anyone providing a service without authority is operating illegally.”
Icasa also wrote to SpaceX on 21 May 2025, seeking clarity on these activities, and warned it might escalate the matter to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) if violations persist.
Discussions to bring Elon Musk’s internet service Starlink in South Africa have already been contentious, with parent company SpaceX criticising local shareholding laws while backing equity equivalence programmes.
Last week, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications summoned communications minister Solly Malatsi to Parliament, where MPs grilled him for two hours.
Among the accusations was that Malatsi was trying to give Starlink a backdoor to entry into South Africa.
Meanwhile the astronomers working with South Africa’s SKA telescope are pushing authorities to ensure that any licensing agreement with Starlink will protect their groundbreaking observations.
Scientists fear South Africa’s Square Kilometre Array (SKA-Mid), the world’s most powerful radio telescope together with another array co-hosted in Australia, will have their sensitive space observations distorted by Starlink’s low-orbiting satellites.
“It will be like shining a spotlight into someone’s eyes, blinding us to the faint radio signals from celestial bodies,” Federico Di Vruno, co-chair of International Astronomical Union Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky, said.
Di Vruno said the SKA Observatory, where he is spectrum manager, and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (Sarao) were lobbying for licence requirements to reduce the impact on observations in certain frequency ranges, including some that SKA-Mid uses.
That could direct Starlink to steer satellite beams away from SKA receivers or stop transmission for a few seconds to minimise interference, he said.
South Africa’s current SKA antennae, in the remote Northern Cape town of Carnarvon, use the same frequencies used by most satellite operators for downlinks.
South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope, a precursor to SKA-Mid which will be incorporated into the larger instrument, has already discovered a rare giant radio galaxy that is 32 times the size of the Milky Way.