Staff Reporter Elon Musk’s Starlink wants to beam fast internet across South Africa, but the satellite internet giant is hitting turbulence. Despite growing local demand and successful launches across Africa—including Nigeria, Mozambique, and Zambia—Starlink still isn’t officially available in South Africa. And that has everything to do with regulations. So what’s the holdup? The short version: South Africa’s telecommunications laws require any foreign-owned network provider to hand over 30% equity to historically disadvantaged groups—yes, that means Black South Africans—under the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) policy. Starlink, which is owned by Musk’s SpaceX, doesn’t seem keen to comply. Instead of local equity partners, Starlink prefers to control its rollout directly, selling user kits online and skipping local telco partnerships altogether. In its official response to the government earlier this year, Starlink suggested that the ownership rule is a barrier to innovation and will ultimately leave South Africans behind in the global digital race. Government looking at middle ground South Africa’s new Communications Minister, Solly Malatsi, seems open to a compromise. Earlier this month, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies put forward a proposal for “equity equivalence programmes.” Think of it as a regulatory workaround: instead of giving up equity, companies like Starlink could contribute to the economy in other ways—like investing in local infrastructure, supporting SMMEs, or training digital workers. The proposal is currently open for public comment until mid-June. It’s a move designed to attract foreign tech investment without abandoning South Africa’s transformation goals. But it’s not without pushback. Not everyone’s onboard