{"id":94328,"date":"2025-12-15T18:32:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T18:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink"},"modified":"2025-12-16T11:50:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T11:50:59","slug":"presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink","title":{"rendered":"Presidency Emphasizes ICASA&#8217;s Independence on Starlink"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The Presidency says telecommunications regulator ICASA should be given the space to independently assess the new policy directive that would allow Starlink to operate in South Africa under more flexible rules.<\/p>\n<p>Communications Minister Solly Malatsi recently published a policy directive instructing ICASA to permit foreign investors to operate without being required to cede 30% equity.<\/p>\n<p>The move is widely seen as facilitating tech billionaire Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink to operate in the country without fully complying with Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) requirements.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Monday, the Presidency emphasised that while Malatsi\u2019s policy directive is lawful, ICASA must independently review and consider it.<\/p>\n<p>South African lawrequires foreign-owned telecommunications companies to hold at least 30% black ownership.<\/p>\n<p>This mandate, which forms part of the B-BBEE framework, aims to address past racial inequalities.<\/p>\n<p>However, tech billionaire Elon Musk has publicly criticised the policy, claiming South Africa discriminates against white-owned foreign companies.<\/p>\n<p>While Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya insists ICASA should be allowed time to independently judge Communications Minister Solly Malatsi\u2019s policy directive, he says Starlink is not the only company interested.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should avoid the trap of getting fixated on Starlink. There are four or five companies that have expressed interest in providing their services here in South Africa. It\u2019s not only Starlink.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ANC and EFF believe that Malatsi\u2019s policy directive seeks to bypass BBBEE regulations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. The Presidency says telecommunications regulator ICASA should be given the space to independently assess the new policy directive that would allow Starlink to operate in South Africa under more flexible rules. Communications Minister Solly Malatsi recently published a policy directive instructing ICASA to permit foreign investors to operate without being required to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":94327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-94328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Presidency Emphasizes ICASA&#039;s Independence on Starlink - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Presidency says telecommunications regulator ICASA should be given the space to independently assess the new policy ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Presidency Emphasizes ICASA&#039;s Independence on Starlink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Presidency says telecommunications regulator ICASA should be given the space to independently assess the new policy ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T18:32:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T11:50:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/12\/sm_1765811485.126231.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Presidency Emphasizes ICASA&#8217;s Independence on Starlink\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-15T18:32:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-16T11:50:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink\"},\"wordCount\":251,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/12\/sm_1765811485.126231.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/presidency-emphasizes-icasas-independence-on-starlink\",\"name\":\"Presidency Emphasizes ICASA's Independence on Starlink - 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