--- title: SpaceX breaks cover at Icasa satellite spectrum hearings description: SpaceX's Ryan Goodnight used Icasa's hearings on satellite spectrum fee amendments to press the regulator on licensing terms, including per-licence gateway... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-breaks-cover-at-icasa-satellite-spectrum-hearings-ormthohpi twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: SpaceX breaks cover at Icasa satellite spectrum hearings | daily.dev og:description: SpaceX's Ryan Goodnight used Icasa's hearings on satellite spectrum fee amendments to press the regulator on licensing terms, including per-licence gateway... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-breaks-cover-at-icasa-satellite-spectrum-hearings-ormthohpi og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ORmThoHpi.png og:image:alt: SpaceX breaks cover at Icasa satellite spectrum hearings og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # SpaceX breaks cover at Icasa satellite spectrum hearings **[TechCentral](https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral)** · 4 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary SpaceX's Ryan Goodnight used Icasa's hearings on satellite spectrum fee amendments to press the regulator on licensing terms, including per-licence gateway fees, wider Ku-band access for terminals in motion, blanket fleet licensing and a minimum 10-year licence term. SpaceX also pushed Icasa to clarify how the 30% historically-disadvantaged-group equity requirement applies to new gateway and terminal licence categories, though the actual barrier to Starlink entering South Africa remains the Electronic Communications Act's ownership rule, which is a statutory rather than regulatory matter. Icasa officials pushed back on a flat bandwidth fee but were more open to lighter terminal licensing. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why is Starlink not licensed to operate in South Africa? South Africa's Electronic Communications Act requires individual telecoms licence holders to be at least 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups, and SpaceX refuses to cede local equity. Communications minister Solly Malatsi gazetted a policy direction on 12 December 2025 pushing Icasa to accept equity equivalent investment programmes instead, but Icasa said on 13 May it cannot fully implement that without an amendment to the Act itself. _Anyone tracking Starlink's market access can follow ownership and spectrum policy shifts on daily.dev._ ### What licensing terms is SpaceX asking Icasa for in South Africa? SpaceX has asked for a gateway earth station fee charged per licence rather than per station, wider Ku-band spectrum for earth stations in motion like aircraft and ship terminals, a single blanket licence covering an entire terminal fleet regardless of model, and a minimum 10-year licence term with clear renewal rules. It also wants clarity on ownership rules for new gateway and user-terminal licence categories. _Following satellite spectrum policy debates like this is easier with daily.dev's tech coverage._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Icasa’s blunt message to Starlink and other satellite operators](https://daily.dev/posts/icasa-s-blunt-message-to-starlink-and-other-satellite-operators-wywxuaeg4) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [South Africa’s broadband future is being decided in orbit, not in Pretoria](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-broadband-future-is-being-decided-in-orbit-not-in-pretoria-w0ptcxebq) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [SpaceX petition on launch spectrum meets opposition from aerospace and healthcare](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-petition-on-launch-spectrum-meets-opposition-from-aerospace-and-healthcare-npg4t0fny) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Amazon asks Icasa to cut spectrum fees ahead of Leo launch](https://daily.dev/posts/amazon-asks-icasa-to-cut-spectrum-fees-ahead-of-leo-launch-gnxw3da57) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [SpaceX wants to launch 100,000 more Starlink satellites - for 100x the bandwidth](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-wants-to-launch-100-000-more-starlink-satellites---for-100x-the-bandwidth-ausq1q4cy) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#spacex](https://daily.dev/tags/spacex) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-breaks-cover-at-icasa-satellite-spectrum-hearings-ormthohpi) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"SpaceX breaks cover at Icasa satellite spectrum hearings","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-breaks-cover-at-icasa-satellite-spectrum-hearings-ormthohpi","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-breaks-cover-at-icasa-satellite-spectrum-hearings-ormthohpi"},"datePublished":"2026-08-20T07:04:28.425Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T09:09:46.837Z","description":"SpaceX's Ryan Goodnight used Icasa's hearings on satellite spectrum fee amendments to press the regulator on licensing terms, including per-licence gateway...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/df72d24ebac8be1dc40c8c6b06778f51?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/df72d24ebac8be1dc40c8c6b06778f51?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCentral","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCentral","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--RsqLDZrL--/f_auto/v1717745297/logos/techcentral","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-breaks-cover-at-icasa-satellite-spectrum-hearings-ormthohpi","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"spacex","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCentral","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"SpaceX breaks cover at Icasa satellite spectrum hearings"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-breaks-cover-at-icasa-satellite-spectrum-hearings-ormthohpi#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why is Starlink not licensed to operate in South Africa?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"South Africa's Electronic Communications Act requires individual telecoms licence holders to be at least 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups, and SpaceX refuses to cede local equity. Communications minister Solly Malatsi gazetted a policy direction on 12 December 2025 pushing Icasa to accept equity equivalent investment programmes instead, but Icasa said on 13 May it cannot fully implement that without an amendment to the Act itself. Anyone tracking Starlink's market access can follow ownership and spectrum policy shifts on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What licensing terms is SpaceX asking Icasa for in South Africa?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"SpaceX has asked for a gateway earth station fee charged per licence rather than per station, wider Ku-band spectrum for earth stations in motion like aircraft and ship terminals, a single blanket licence covering an entire terminal fleet regardless of model, and a minimum 10-year licence term with clear renewal rules. It also wants clarity on ownership rules for new gateway and user-terminal licence categories. Following satellite spectrum policy debates like this is easier with daily.dev's tech coverage."}}]} ```