There is Google and all the other online media companies. Now sure how Google has handled it, perhaps setting up a subsidiary. I think one of the issues with Starlink is that it has physical hardware and will compete with mobile providers and ISPs. It is very complicated.

This is the answer. In order to operate in the country you have to set up a local company and that will have the share required by law.

In SA specifically they're not affected by the 30% rule as they sell digital services.

So then is it just that Starlink needed an operating subsidiary with some local ownership to handle the ground stations there? Seems less onerous than how the US handled TikTok or the Chinese 5G hardware stuff.

Countries are often sensitive about their communication infrastructure.

Yes, or to partner with an existing ISP.

Amazon Leo, for instance, is partnering with Herotel. [0]

[0] https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/amazon-leo/amazon-leo-south...

I think in practice this isn’t great. You get a bunch of little companies which represent foreign firms employing a few connected people. Maybe a few sales people that take orders. The net impact a few people get cushy jobs and the customers get more expensive and worse service.

As a consequence, South Africa has a flowering space industry and their own satellite internet network, deployed by their own space shuttles. Turns out that when you give the right incentives and protect your local businesses, they have no problem competing with predatory international firms.

You're being sarcastic, but South Africa does indeed have a thriving space industry for its size. Not only in terms of satellite components, but entire buses and satellites, which has included building satellites for Saudi Arabia.

However, the purpose of the BBBEE local ownership requirement for companies like Starlink is to protect and develop the local telecommunications sector, not the space sector.

https://www.wesgro.co.za/invest/sector-brochures/space-econo...

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/science/637482-billionaire-ho...

https://maxpolyakov.com/africa-in-space-part-1-south-africa-...

https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/south-africa...

https://spaceinafrica.com/2026/08/11/the-quiet-giant-of-glob...

https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/saudisat-3.htm

Will the HN frustrated billionaires-in-making ever get tired of twerking for Elon?

[delayed]