Gadget magazine editor Toby Shapshak believes that Starlink is an advantage for South Africa as it will provide better connectivity to people, especially in the rural areas where the network is mostly problematic.

Parliament has called on Minister Solly Malatsi and the Communications and Digital Technologies Department to appear over the newly gazetted ICT policy directive. This, as Malatsi’s proposed ICT B-BBEE changes may let Starlink bypass the 30% Black ownership rule.

Parliament’s Communications Committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss possible legal issues.

Shapshak elaborates, “In the broader tech industry, it’s not that strict. In the broader tech industry, you can get an equivalent investment situation where, instead of giving up shareholding in your business, you commit an international business to spend money on infrastructure and training to support that industry. It’s the kind of agreement that Microsoft and Google and Ford and Toyota, and BMW all use. We definitely need better connectivity. We definitely need more people getting online, and what we know is that it’s very hard to connect people in rural areas. But along comes a solution like Starlink.”