Tesla better than Starlink for South Africa — analyst – MyBroadband

Bringing Tesla to South Africa will have a more significant impact than launching Starlink in the country, according to World Wide Worx managing director Arthur Goldstuck.

Goldstuck spoke to SABC News following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent announcement that Elon Musk’s Starlink is holding talks with the South African government to introduce the satellite Internet service to the country.

He said the announcement and discussions stem from a recent Twitter/X post from Bank Zero co-founder and former FNB CEO Michael Jordaan.

“Dear @elonmusk please bring @Tesla cars and @Starlink connectivity to the country of your birth,” Jordaan posted on 8 September.

Musk responded, “That’s the plan.” He had previously replied to another post from a South African requesting an official Starlink launch in the country, saying, “Waiting for regulatory approval.”

However, Goldstuck says it would be better to prioritise bringing Tesla to the country.

“I do believe that bringing Tesla to South Africa will have a bigger impact than bringing Starlink to South Africa,” he stated.

He explained that although Starlink is an ideal solution for operations outside of urban areas that can justify the cost of the service, it won’t help inclusivity in South Africa as it’s too expensive.

“It’s incredibly expensive. What it is really geared for is areas where there isn’t Internet access, so rural areas or a farm that has got Internet access needs, a mine in an outlying area. There are all kinds of use cases,” said Goldstuck.

“It’s not a solution for inclusivity. It will not bring Internet access to underserved communities unless they have a retail model where they can put a receiver in a village, for example, and then resell at very low cost, access to what becomes a Wi-Fi hotspot.”

Earlier in September, Musk told a South African X user that Starlink is waiting for regulatory approval from the government to launch in the country in response to a post on the platform.

“Try to online school two kids with a 6Mbps line. It is the only Wi-Fi option in the area, at R900 per month,” the user said. “We really can do with Starlink in SA. Please.”

He included a photo of a fixed wireless-access antenna mounted to the top of a wind pump.

Ramaphosa recently revealed that he and Musk have had discussions about bringing Starlink to South Africa.

“I have had discussions with him and have said, Elon, you become so successful and you’re investing in a variety of countries, I want you to come home and invest here,” said Ramaphosa. “He and I are going to have a further discussion.”

He added that Starlink made the approach.

Prior to his announcement, MyBroadband learnt that at least one of Starlink’s directors responsible for securing regulatory approvals was in the country. However, the purpose of their visit wasn’t confirmed.

Our source didn’t reveal the Starlink employee’s name, but there were two potential candidates: Ryan D. Goodnight and Ben MacWilliams.

Goodnight serves as Starlink’s senior director of global licencing and market activation, while MacWilliams is the Starlink market access lead for the African continent.

The pair have travelled to several African nations and recently celebrated the launch of Starlink in South Africa’s neighbour Zimbabwe.

To launch in South Africa, Starlink will require network, service, and spectrum licences. However, this poses a potential problem.

The country’s rules regarding equity in communications services are a barrier to Starlink in South Africa.

It would either need to partner with a local company that already has licences, or establish a local entity with a BEE partner.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has also not issued new communications network and service licences in 14 years.

Starlink could only obtain these by buying them from someone or acquiring a company that has licences.

The licences’ ownership and control would then need to be transferred to Starlink, which Icasa will only approve if it meets the country’s ownership requirements.