No bars for Elon! - Namibia rejects Starlink telecom over local ownership rules

"Namibia’s ICT Minister Emma Theofelus has formally denied Elon Musk’s Starlink a telecommunications license after the provider failed to meet mandatory local ownership requirements under the country’s Communications Act. “The Republic of Namibia, through the Communications Regulator Authority of Namibia, has declined the application licence of Starlink,” Theofelus said at a press conference on Tuesday in Windhoek, noting that it was formally published in the Government Gazette on Monday. The minister stated that Starlink applied for service and spectrum licenses in June 2024 but failed to meet local ownership and foreign shareholding requirements mandated by the 2009 Communications Act. “The government, through the authority, seeks to balance the encouragement of innovation and investment with the need to ensure full compliance with the legal and regulatory framework governing the sector,” she added. The evaluation of the application was based on six statutory criteria, with ownership and control among the most important. It comes as Starlink seeks to expand across Africa, where it has faced similar regulatory challenges in several countries requiring local partners or national ownership thresholds, including South Africa, Cameroon, and Senegal."

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