SA’s largest fibre network operator, Openserve, does not see the possible entry of Elon Musk’s Starlink as something that could destroy its connectivity business, but rather a service that can coexist with it in the market.
In recent weeks, photographs showing meetings between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Musk have caused excitement over the possibility of Starlink finally coming to SA. The country is seen as being behind the curve in adopting the connectivity underpinned by low Earth-orbiting (LEO) satellites.
The satellites have grown in favour as a way to plug connectivity gaps, with Starlink being the best-known such service.
While many, consumers especially, are excited about the prospect, Starlink could pose a threat to traditional telecommunications services, mainly mobile and fibre. Though the technology is a way to plug rural connectivity gaps, its more affordable price points for unlimited broadband packages could see cause in urban areas to switch over.
The novelty of something new could also take away market share from incumbent players. Yet Telkom’s Openserve sees a world in which traditional operators can coexist with the likes of Starlink.
Satellite is going to play a big part. If you take a cue from what’s happened in the US, especially with Starlink, they’ve gone after the satellite internet customer base.
“Like all technologies, what we have discovered or understood is that they tend to coexist. So I don’t think it’s going to be one or [the other],” said Pushkar Gokhale, chief digital and strategy officer at Openserve, at the Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference, hosted by Telkom.
“Satellite is going to play a big part. If you take a cue from what’s happened in the US, especially with Starlink, they’ve gone after the satellite internet customer base. Huge network ... they’ve really eaten into that, what they call a doughnut.”
The doughnut concept refers to places with network coverage gaps or “holes” where fibre or cable has yet to penetrate.
Openserve has 170,000km in assets, dwarfing those of local competitors such Metrofibre, Vox’s Frogfoot or Remgro’s Maziv (comprising Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa). Even continental players such as Liquid Intelligent Technologies and MTN’s Bayobab with 125,000km and 114,000km, respectively, are still some way off.
“I believe fibre will be the driver for satellite connectivity, and they will coexist. We can’t hide away from the fact that satellite is coming through. We have to, hopefully, partner with them and I think that’s the conversation that the president is having and all the other countries are having with Starlink ... how do you partner?” said Gokhale.
Starlink is already operational in several neighbouring countries, including Zambia, Eswatini, Malawi and Zimbabwe, with the latter being the latest African nation to gain access to the high-speed internet service.
After a meeting with Starlink, minister of communications and digital technologies Solly Malatsi is working on a plan to make this a reality in SA. He wants to amend a law that forces operators to have 30% ownership by historically disadvantaged groups to operate in the country.
“It is my intention to issue a policy direction to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) in terms of section 3(2) of the Electronic Communications Act, to clarify the department’s position on the recognition of equity equivalent programmes, for urgent consideration,” Malatsi said recently.
“This is part of an initiative to significantly expand access to broadband connectivity to poor South Africans and people living in remote parts of the country.
“All telcos are wondering how to partner with them because their model is direct to market and as telcos we need to be cognisant of it,” Gokhale said.
With SA being slow to bring in Starlink technology, a number of telecom providers are working to secure deals that will, it is hoped, put them ahead of the competition, particularly in outlying and remote areas where connectivity continues to be a challenge.
Seacom, Avanti and Liquid have all recently launched their own LEO services for enterprise clients, in partnership with France’s Eutelsat OneWeb. MTN has also signed with the French provider and is in talks with others, including AST SpaceMobile, Lynk Global and Starlink. Vodacom and its UK parent are working with Amazon’s competing platform Project Kuiper.
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