Namibia rejects Starlink’s appeal, leaving Elon Musk’s satellite service locked out of 2 major African markets

Namibia’s communications regulator has dismissed Starlink’s appeal against the rejection of its licence applications, confirming that Elon Musk’s satellite internet provider still does not meet the country’s local ownership requirements.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) rejected Starlink’s applications for a telecommunications service licence and radio spectrum access licence back in March, citing non-compliance with ownership and control rules under section 46 of Namibia’s Communications Act. Starlink’s subsequent appeal has now also been thrown out.

CRAN said Starlink’s reconsideration request was filed after the April 23 statutory deadline. The regulator also disclosed that it received 624 reconsideration requests in total; 622 were dismissed for failing to meet procedural and jurisdictional requirements, and the two that did qualify introduced no new facts or material errors in the original decision.

The regulator said the reconsideration requests did not provide sufficient legal or factual grounds to alter the original decision.

A similar Starlink battle in South Africa

Namibia’s rejection echoes a nearly identical standoff in neighbouring South Africa, where Starlink’s market entry has stalled over the same ownership issue.

South African law requires telecoms licence holders to be at least 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups, a threshold SpaceX has repeatedly said it cannot meet, insisting it will not cede equity in any local subsidiary. Musk, who was born in Pretoria, has claimed he cannot get a licence in his own home country “because I’m not black.”

Communications Minister Solly Malatsi tried to engineer a workaround in December, gazetting a policy direction that would let ICASA recognise equity-equivalent investment programs, allowing multinationals to invest in skills, enterprise, or infrastructure instead of selling shares.

Malatsi said the reform wasn’t designed for any one company, but it was widely seen as clearing a path for Starlink. The move sparked a political backlash within South Africa’s coalition government: the ANC, EFF, and MK Party all opposed it, with the latter two threatening legal action.

Back story: Namibia rejects Starlink’s license application, cites local ownership clause

That route has since hit its own obstacle. In May, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) told the minister it could not fully implement the direction without an amendment to the Electronic Communications Act, pushing any resolution into a parliamentary process that could take months or years. Malatsi has said the government will now pursue those legislative changes.

For now, the practical position on both sides of the border remains unchanged. ICASA says it has received no formal licence application from SpaceX. Starlink is accessed in South Africa only through grey-market imports, and a legal, regulated launch is now widely seen as unlikely before 2027.

The ownership rules remain the central obstacle, and the political fights surrounding them show no sign of cooling on either side of the Namibia-South Africa border.