{"id":2000106475,"date":"2026-03-25T14:30:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000106475"},"modified":"2026-03-25T14:30:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:30:50","slug":"elon-musks-starlink-denied-operating-licence-in-namibia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/elon-musks-starlink-denied-operating-licence-in-namibia\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk’s Starlink denied operating licence in Namibia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia confirmed that Starlink\u2019s applications for both a telecommunications service licence and access to radio spectrum were rejected, according to a notice published in the government gazette earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulator said Starlink only satisfied three of the six legal criteria required for approval. A key issue was non-compliance with Namibia\u2019s local ownership laws, which require that at least 51% of a telecommunications company be owned by Namibian citizens or entities. Starlink, being wholly foreign-owned, had not obtained an exemption from this requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities also raised concerns related to national defence and public security, arguing that Starlink\u2019s ownership structure presented challenges around jurisdiction and enforcement of regulatory obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the regulator pointed to past instances in which Starlink was found to have contravened Namibia\u2019s Communications Act and failed to respond to a regulatory summons, describing the conduct as showing \u201ca total disregard\u201d for the sector\u2019s governance framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the rejection, the regulator noted that Starlink met criteria related to competition, technical and financial capacity, as well as frequency availability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starlink has been expanding its presence across Africa, operating in several countries including Rwanda, but has encountered regulatory hurdles in others due to local ownership requirements and policy restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Namibia, authorities previously issued a cease-and-desist order in November 2024, stating that the company had been operating without a licence and advising the public against using its services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulator said it may reconsider the decision within 90 days, either on its own initiative or following a petition from an affected party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Starlink has been expanding its presence across Africa, operating in several countries, but has encountered regulatory hurdles in others due to local ownership requirements and policy restrictions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Namibia has denied operating licences to satellite internet provider Starlink, owned by Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX, citing failure to meet ownership and regulatory compliance requirements, the country\u2019s telecommunications regulator said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000106476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[151],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000106475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","tag-editors-choice","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000106476,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SnapInsta.to_658199312_18076757525394525_7771655130148940461_n.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1080,"height":606,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SnapInsta.to_658199312_18076757525394525_7771655130148940461_n.jpg","width":150,"height":84},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SnapInsta.to_658199312_18076757525394525_7771655130148940461_n.jpg","width":300,"height":168},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SnapInsta.to_658199312_18076757525394525_7771655130148940461_n.jpg","width":768,"height":431},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SnapInsta.to_658199312_18076757525394525_7771655130148940461_n.jpg","width":1024,"height":575},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SnapInsta.to_658199312_18076757525394525_7771655130148940461_n.jpg","width":1080,"height":606}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000106475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000106475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000106475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000106478,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000106475\/revisions\/2000106478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000106476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000106475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000106475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000106475"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000106475"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000106475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}