The Zimbabwe Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) has said that global satellite internet provider, Starlink, owned by American businessman, Mr Elon Musk, has applied to operate in the country.
POTRAZ Managing Director Dr. Gift Mashingeti disclosed this in Bulawayo on Tuesday during a question and answer session at a working event organized by the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services on the sidelines of the ongoing 64th edition of the Zimbabwe Expo. International Trade Fair (ZITF).
Starlink has become a topic of concern in the country’s ICT sector, with questions being raised about how it works given its continued consumption growth and popularity around the world.
In response to the issue, Dr Machingate said the regulator had taken over the matter and was processing application papers by Starlink.
“So why isn’t Starlink working now? The simple answer is that Starlink hasn’t applied, and it would be foolish for us to go and say come and apply, please.
“They have now come to apply and we are in the process of considering their application,” Dr Machingate said.
“We are also a regulator, and we have to see how we regulate it. We also have to look at consumer and data protection.
“But we are currently in the process of considering their request.”
He admitted that there were some illegal Starlink users in the country who have since been disconnected.
“So, in short, we did not ban them. What we just did was that those who were using Starlink stations were asked to turn them off because we cannot allow breaking the law,” Dr. Machingate said.
“I think they were shut down and there might be some outcry. But, you see, these things were illegal and will be regulated when they are licensed.”
He said that the authority has a role to play in operating the telecommunications sector and will follow the correct channels to ensure that services are provided and that they meet the standards.
“Let me clarify that in Potraz we are the licensing authority for telecommunications and we already have a licensing framework and this framework is a convergence framework where we check if the technology you bring is not relevant, it is technology neutral and to reinforce that we already had geostationary satellites .
“We already have a license for geostationary satellites, so there is no way we can block Starlink because we are technology neutral,” Dr Machingate said.
Starlink is a satellite Internet constellation operated by Starlink Services, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American space company SpaceX, providing coverage to more than 70 countries. It also aims to provide mobile broadband globally.
SpaceX began launching Starlink satellites in 2019. As of early March 2024, they consisted of more than 6,000 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) that communicate with designated ground transceivers.
Approximately 12,000 satellites are planned to be deployed, with the possibility of later expanding to 34,400. SpaceX announced reaching more than 1 million subscribers in December 2022, 1.5 million subscribers in May 2023, and 2 million subscribers in September 2023.
