Namibia's communication regulator dismisses Starlink appeal over license rejection

Namibia's communications regulator said on Monday, 22 June, it dismissed an appeal by Starlink against the rejection of its license applications, reaffirming that Elon Musk's satellite internet provider failed to meet local ownership requirements.

The silhouette of Elon Musk and Starlink logo are seen in this illustration taken 11 June 2026. Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (Cran) rejected Starlink's applications for a telecommunications service license and radio spectrum access in March, citing non-compliance with ownership and control requirements under the country's Communications Act.

"Starlink's application remained non-compliant with the ownership and control requirements under section 46 of the Communications Act, No. 8, 2009," said Cran in a statement.

The regulator added that Starlink's reconsideration application was filed after the statutory deadline, which expired on 23 April.

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Cran received 624 reconsideration requests from the public, 622 of which were dismissed for failing to meet procedural and jurisdictional requirements.

The two submissions that met the threshold introduced no new facts and identified no material error in the original decision, the regulator said.

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