SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service is still being used inside South Africa even though it has never been licensed there, according to speed-test data published on 8 October 2026 by MyBroadband, a South African technology news site. MyBroadband says its Speed Test platform recorded a big increase in Starlink tests over the last few months, with volumes peaking in August 2026.
Key facts
- Starlink has never been officially supported in South Africa, but its roaming service has been available in the country since early 2023, MyBroadband reports.
- MyBroadband logged 2,232 Starlink tests in August 2026 and 962 in September 2026, against 341 in September 2025.
- Average download speeds measured on Starlink ranged from 34Mbps to 66Mbps in 2026 and average uploads from 6Mbps to 14Mbps, per MyBroadband.
- Latency fell from about 124ms at the start of 2026 to 90ms in September 2026, the same platform found.
- The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the country’s communications regulator, said in May 2025 that it had opened an investigation into illegal use of the service, Moneyweb reported; days later it confiscated SpaceX-related equipment in the Northern Cape, according to The Citizen.
Why it matters
Moneyweb reported that Starlink’s technology would be a potential game-changer for South African users who have historically faced expensive or unreliable internet options, citing a 2024 survey by the national statistics agency that found only 2.7% of rural households have access to the web. The MyBroadband figures indicate demand for satellite internet availability has not gone away while the licensing question stays unresolved.
The immediate exposure sits with the user. ICASA’s position, as reported by Htxt.Africa, is that people found selling or buying Starlink kits and subscriptions to bypass the regulations are breaking the law — a line that places buyers, not only resellers, inside the scope of the crackdown. The regulator’s one publicised enforcement action, detailed below, ended in seized hardware.
The second stake is the rule itself. The equity requirement Elon Musk objected to applies to foreign-owned telecoms companies generally, The Citizen reported, so the amendment proposed by the communications minister would reset the terms of entry for any foreign satellite operator rather than settling one company’s application. That is why lawmakers’ challenge to it in parliament reaches beyond Starlink.
How the roaming route worked, and tightened
MyBroadband says that for about two years, many people in poorly connected rural areas used Starlink through regional roaming plans, which let customers with equipment registered elsewhere access the service in South Africa without an official local launch. The outlet stresses that this did not mean Starlink had regulatory approval to provide the service locally.
From around mid-2024, according to MyBroadband, Starlink began enforcing a 60-day continuous-use rule, after which a roaming user had to access the kit from their country of registration. Users initially found workarounds, including switching the kit off, pausing the service for a few days to reset the timer, or hopping across the border with the kit to “phone home.”
Starlink eventually cracked down on those practices and cut the continuous-use period in South Africa to 30 days, MyBroadband reports. The site says the added admin and cost of keeping a permanent connection, which may require one or two additional kits, pushed numerous South African users to abandon the service.
MyBroadband adds that many were particularly annoyed because performance had improved significantly just before the restrictions took effect, which it attributes to a combination of Starlink’s fleet expansion, a new ground station in Mozambique, and Starlink beginning to peer at NAPAfrica and the Johannesburg Internet Exchange Point.
What a Starlink kit and subscription cost
Because Starlink has never been licensed to sell in South Africa, there is no local tariff to quote: a roaming subscriber pays the plan price set in the country where the kit is registered, and neither MyBroadband nor Moneyweb publishes a rand figure for what that works out to. The hardware side is better documented. MyBroadband says the biggest early challenge was importing a Starlink antenna and router from a country where the service had already launched, with the first customers sourcing equipment from far-flung countries in eastern or western Africa. Starlink’s later expansion into several of South Africa’s neighbours made a kit easier and cheaper to get, the outlet says, even as the continuous-use limit pushed the running cost the other way.
What explains the 2026 rebound
MyBroadband says it understands that more intermittent users are able to resume the service after several weeks of pausing their subscription. The outlet offers its own reading of who that suits — foreigners who occasionally use Starlink while travelling, and people who mainly use bushveld or hunting farms for weekend retreats — and presents both as inference rather than stated Starlink policy.
What the regulator has done
ICASA formally engaged SpaceX and was awaiting a response, Moneyweb reported in May 2025. Chairperson Mothibi Ramusi said that if the investigation found any breach of regulatory and legislative frameworks, the authority would explore applicable enforcement actions, which he said may include lodging a formal complaint with the International Telecommunication Union.
Days later, Ramusi told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that ICASA had investigated in the Northern Cape and confiscated equipment related to SpaceX from a company called IcasaSePush, The Citizen reported. He said ICASA wrote to SpaceX on 21 May 2025, that SpaceX responded, and that the reply worried him because the company indicated it had now instructed IcasaSePush to stop operating or distributing equipment tied to its business in the country.
Htxt.Africa reported at the time that the regulator was cracking down on local usage. Starlink News has reported enforcement elsewhere as well, including a seized terminal in southeast Iran.
The licensing stalemate
South Africa is among several nations on the continent that have not licensed the service, Moneyweb reported. It said Musk has sought approval to operate Starlink in the country but objected to legislation seeking to boost Black participation in the economy, accusing the government of having “openly racist ownership laws.”
The Citizen reported that the BEE laws in question require foreign-owned telecoms companies to allocate at least 30% of local equity to historically disadvantaged groups, primarily black South Africans. It also reported that Musk claimed Starlink was barred because he is not black, an allegation South African officials refuted.
Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi of the Democratic Alliance proposed amending the rules to let companies like Starlink enter without sharing ownership, Moneyweb reported, and lawmakers challenged the move in parliament that week. Moneyweb said the directive came two days after President Cyril Ramaphosa met US President Donald Trump in Washington.
Htxt.Africa wrote in May 2025 that despite the commotion in parliament, the country was no closer to getting Starlink than a year earlier. SpaceX has run into regulatory holdups in other large markets too: Starlink News has reported that it is still waiting on security clearances in India, where Musk has blamed “oligarchs” for the delay in India.
Where satellite internet availability stands now
On the published record, the stalemate is intact: ICASA has written to SpaceX, taken equipment in one case and not shifted its stated position, while the amendment that would open a licensed route in remains contested in parliament — and the MyBroadband test counts show the service being used in the meantime. Three developments would move the picture: a decision on Malatsi’s proposed amendment, any move by ICASA to escalate beyond its own borders, such as the ITU complaint its chairperson floated, or a further tightening of Starlink’s roaming limits, which is what thinned out South African usage the last time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Starlink switched off roaming in South Africa altogether?
No. MyBroadband reports that Starlink has generally disabled roaming in a country only after receiving explicit orders from that country’s government or telecommunications regulator. The same report notes that in some countries with strained relations with the United States, such as China and Russia, roaming is also unavailable.
Which neighbouring country do South Africans register their kits in?
The Citizen reports that some South Africans have worked around the restrictions by registering the kit and the subscription in nearby nations that allow the service, naming Lesotho as an example, then using the roaming option at home.
Can Starlink kits be bought inside South Africa?
Htxt.Africa reports that the kits can reportedly be bought locally, and that smuggling kits in from neighbouring countries and then subscribing to a roaming package is believed to be one loophole in ICASA’s current rules.
How big was Starlink globally when ICASA opened its investigation?
Moneyweb reported in May 2025 that Starlink had more than five million users worldwide and delivered broadband from a network of roughly 7,500 satellites that SpaceX began deploying in 2019.
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