Bloomberg

Namibia rejected more than 600 appeals against its decision to deny trillionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink a license to operate in the country, including a challenge brought by the satellite internet provider.

Of the 624 reconsideration requests, only two met the jurisdictional threshold for review, the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia said Monday. Neither presented sufficient legal or factual grounds to change the original decision, it said.

Starlink Internet Services Namibia’s application was dismissed as it missed the deadline to appeal, the regulator said. A petition backed by about 5 000 members of the public was rejected for the same reason.

The firm didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The company’s initial application to provide fixed satellite services across Namibia was rejected in March for failing to comply with local ownership rules.

Namibian law bars telecommunications licensees from being controlled by foreign individuals or companies, limiting ownership to 49%, unless the communications minister approves an exemption. Starlink was given 90 days to appeal.

While Low Earth Orbit satellite technologies can support national connectivity goals, all operators must comply with Namibia’s legal framework, the regulator said.

Demand for Starlink services in sub-Saharan Africa has soared in recent years as local operators often struggle to provide fast broadband internet, especially in areas far from cities, and in some cases people have traded and activated the terminals illegally.

Many African nations — including Zimbabwe, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of Congo — have given in to pressure by Starlink to ease local-ownership requirements in a quest for fast and reliable access to the internet.

South Africa, where Musk was born, has been reviewing its rules to provide an alternative to 30% ownership requirement in the form of equity-equivalent programs, in terms of which a company invests in services, businesses and schools run by Black people without giving away any of its equity.

While Communications Minister Solly Malatsi has asked the local regulator to amend its rules to allow equity-equivalent investment programs to count toward empowerment, the rules have not been altered.

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