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Published : 25 Mar 2026, 06:12 PM
Namibia declined licence applications from Elon Musk's satellite internet provider Starlink for failing to satisfy ownership and compliance criteria, the country's telecommunications regulator said on Wednesday.
● A notice in the Southern African country's government gazette on Monday showed Starlink's applications for a telecommunications service licence and access to radio spectrum had been turned down.
● The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia said in a statement that Starlink had met only three of the six criteria required by law.
● SpaceX, parent company of Starlink, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
● The regulator said Starlink did not comply with ownership requirements as it is wholly foreign-owned and had not obtained an exemption from the statutory obligation for a minimum of 51 percent Namibian ownership.
● For national defence and public security reasons, the regulator said Starlink's business model with 100 percent foreign ownership raised material regulatory considerations concerning jurisdiction and enforceability of compliance obligations.
● Starlink had previously contravened the country's Communications Act and failed to respond to a summons from the regulator, showing "a total disregard for the governance framework of the sector," it added.
● Starlink's applications did meet competition, technical and financial capacity, and frequency availability criteria, the regulator said.
● Starlink operates in several African countries but has faced regulatory challenges in others and resistance from state telecoms monopolies.
● In Nov 2024, the Namibian regulator imposed a "cease-and-desist order" on Starlink, saying it had been operating without a licence. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment at the time.
