THOSE INTERNET PEOPLE WHO WEAR PINK. (March 2026)

I also think their arrival would be a major wake-up call for most internet companies in South Africa. I mean, have you seen some of their client reviews? Some key impacts on fiber and telecom companies could be the speedy erosion of rural and niche market control. Small wireless ISPs and satellite resellers in remote locations would be most at risk – which is very unfortunate because we need these entrepreneurs.

Urban pricing would change. Fiber is the preferred option for low latency and symmetrical (upload and downloads are equal) speeds. However, Starlink’s anticipated monthly pricing of R900 to R1300 could limit what fiber providers charge for premium packages of 100 Mbps and above. Starlink’s superior speeds, which are up to 400 Mbps, and reduced latency compared to traditional satellite services (often 600 ms or more) are going to dominate. Probably.

Major players like Telkom (Openserve) perhaps believe they can coexist alongside Starlink? It’s always good to be positive! I believe larger businesses may utilize Starlink as an additional backup link to help with consistent internet access during fiber disruptions or outages – but I don’t think this is going to help increase their revenue much at all.

Although Starlink is reportedly aimed at high-income consumers, I believe there will definitely be increased competition in low-income markets. Some local fiber companies like Fibertime and TooMuchWifi offer uncapped internet for as little as R5 per day (around R150 per month) in townships, a price point Starlink cannot really compete with yet.

Is there a threat to mobile operators? For sure! Starlink’s “Direct to Cell” service, which converts satellites into “cell towers in space,” poses a major challenge to mobile operators such as Vodacom, MTN, and certainly Cell C… actually, it might be the nail in the coffin for that company.

In light of what I have shared, I should mention that there is some rumblings in the boardrooms with strategic responses from local players. Let’s start with the large fiber providers like Vumatel and Openserve. Minimal urban churn is expected, and we may see more focus on enhancing “last-mile” reliability and expanding into lower-income areas.

Next, mobile network operators like Vodacom and MTN expect strong advocacy for equal regulatory conditions; perhaps we will see collaborations emerge… or maybe many months of court cases? A point worth noting is that Vodacom is already partnering with Starlink in other African nations.

Small rural WISPs have a high risk of closure. Perhaps they can adapt to become Starlink installers or management partners? Will this be enough? I fear not.

For satellite resellers like Vox and YahClick, they could face a significant threat as current satellite speeds are ‘often’ slower and more costly than Starlink’s projected local prices.

The regulatory and investment landscape is the wild card to keep an eye on. The South African government is playing around with an Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP) that would allow Mr. Elon Musk’s Starlink to bypass the 30% local black ownership requirement by investing R2 billion (small change for him) in local infrastructure, including connecting 5000 rural schools. Should this be allowed? Of course not. Will this happen anyway? I believe so, in some form or another.

Elon is the subject of much controversy. And rightfully so. One of the questions that came to mind for me is that if he does start to provide internet in South Africa, could he perhaps see what we are doing on the web while using his service? Internet censorship is a real concern for me, as is privacy. Maybe you have the same concerns, so let me answer my own question.

Elon Musk (if he wished) and Starlink can see you are online and which domains you visit, but they cannot see the specific content of your activity on most modern websites. If they were your Internet Service Provider (ISP), Starlink would have access to high-level traffic data, but standard web encryption protects your private information. They can see things like Websites Visited, Metadata, Unencrypted Traffic, and AI Training Data. They could not see Encrypted Content and Private Messages. With that said, if you one day do become a client of Starlink, you might want to use a VPN, opt out of AI training, and enable Secure DNS.

If Elon’s plan gains approval, a formal launch could take place by late 2026 or early 2027.

The END.