https://newsletter.po.creamermedia.com
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Africa|Business|Energy|Infrastructure|SECURITY|Services|Maintenance|Infrastructure
Africa|Business|Energy|Infrastructure|SECURITY|Services|Maintenance|Infrastructure
africa|business|energy|infrastructure|security|services|maintenance|infrastructure
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

Musk’s Starlink eyes R2bn South Africa investment


Close

Embed Video

Musk’s Starlink eyes R2bn South Africa investment

SpaceX falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink satellites
Photo by Reuters

30th June 2025

By: Bloomberg

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

Billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink, in a potential workaround of South Africa’s Black-empowerment rules to gain an operating license, may invest about R2-billion in the country, Business Day reported citing sources that it didn’t identify.

The internet services company will channel that investment into infrastructure to support the Southern African Development Community made up of 16 countries, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said. Starlink told the South African government it will use local firms to build its infrastructure and lease land, fibre, energy as well as for security and maintenance support.

Advertisement

It aims to secure a deal with South African authorities before the country hosts a Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg in November, Business Day said.

Pretoria-born Musk has previously indicated that he wants Starlink internet services to be made available in Africa’s largest economy. But he has refused to relinquish any equity in the business to comply with Black-empowerment rules, which he says are “openly racist.”

Advertisement

Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi has proposed changes to the country’s empowerment laws for multinational satellite providers. He’s proposed that these companies should be able to qualify for operating licenses by meeting criteria, such as investing in Black-owned businesses and related infrastructure in South Africa, instead of the current requirement that they partner with Black shareholders.

Still, the decision to award Starlink an operating license in South Africa will ultimately rest with the country’s industry regulator, Malatsi said earlier this month.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options

Email Registration Success

Thank you, you have successfully subscribed to one or more of Creamer Media’s email newsletters. You should start receiving the email newsletters in due course.

Our email newsletters may land in your junk or spam folder. To prevent this, kindly add newsletters@creamermedia.co.za to your address book or safe sender list. If you experience any issues with the receipt of our email newsletters, please email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za