Namibia rejects Starlink
June 23, 2026

By Chris Forrester



Namibia’s communications regulator has firmly rejected SpaceX’s Starlink presence in the Southern African country.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (Cran) has rejected an appeal made by Starlink saying that the Elon Musk-controlled business has not complied with local ownership requirements. The initial rejection was made in March.


“Starlink’s application remained non-compliant with the ownership and control requirements under section 46 of the Communications Act,” said Cran in a statement, adding that the appeal (the reconsideration application) was filed too late and after a deadline which expired on April 23rd.

“Cran affirms that the reconsideration of requests did not provide a sufficient legal or factual basis to alter the original decision,” it added.

The rejection echoes similar refusals in neighbouring South Africa, where again Starlink has yet to agree conditions of entry and to somehow satisfy the government’s Black Empowerment rules where – in essence – any local business must have a 30 per cent black presence to balance historical disadvantaged groups.