Namibia’s CRAN rejects Starlink’s operator licence application

Details: John Tanner; Category: Regulation; 26 March 2026; 7473 views

The Namibia Communications Regulatory Authority (CRAN) said on Tuesday that it rejected LEO satellite operator Starlink’s application for a licence to operate in the country because it didn’t meet all regulatory requirements.

CRAN had announced on Monday that it had rejected the application. During a press conference broadcast on Facebook the following day, Tulimevava Mufeti, CRAN’s chair of the board of directors, explained the reason for the rejection, saying Starlink’s application only met three of six criteria for licence approval.

The six criteria include competition, technical and financial capacity, frequency availability, ownership and control, national defence and public safety, and compliance history.

Mufeti said Starlink fell short on the latter three, starting with the fact that telecoms licencees must be 51% owned by Namibian citizens or local entities. On the national defense and public security front, Mufeti said Starlink’s model raises concerns about data sovereignty, jurisdiction and the government’s ability to supervise both.

Starlink’s past history of offering LEO satellite services in Namibia without a licence and being initially unresponsive to CRAN requests to obtain one was also a strike against it, Mufeti added.

On the bright side, she continued, CRAN believes Starlink would be good for competition in Namibia and a welcome solution to extending voice and data connectivity to remote areas. The regulator is also confident in Starlink’s finances, and said frequency availability would not be a problem.

Namibia’s Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Emma Theofelus, said at the press conference that Starlink was welcome to resubmit its application once CRAN’s concerns had been addressed. Starlink has yet to confirm its next move in Namibia.