Splendid start to the week if it so applies to you. Last week, we had the Road to Moonshot Nairobi event, and if you weren’t there, never fear, Moonshot 2026 is where you should be. And you don’t want to miss that.
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What started as a question about whether Starlink, the Elon Musk-owned satellite Internet company, could get a licence in South Africa has become something messier: a political fight inside the Government of National Unity (GNU) about who ministers are meeting, who’s lobbying them, and whether the line between public policy and private interest is being properly observed.
What’s the backstory? To get a telecoms licence in South Africa, foreign companies must generally meet Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) rules requiring 30% local ownership by historically disadvantaged groups. Starlink has never applied for a licence because it doesn’t meet that requirement.
Originally published by TechCabal.