Starlink’s decision to cut off roaming users after two months of accessing its service outside their home country has left many households and businesses with poor or no other Internet connectivity options.
That is according to feedback from IcasaSePush, one of the companies unofficially offering Starlink importing services to South Africa.
“The consequences are far-reaching, affecting users from schools and educational institutions in rural areas that rely on Starlink for online learning to mining companies that need uninterrupted communication to ensure operational efficiency during load-shedding or other power outages,” it said.
IcasaSePush said one example of a formerly happy Starlink roaming customer was a rural school that had successfully integrated the service to provide students with access to online educational resources.
“The school now faces the daunting reality of returning to a pre-Internet era, severely hindering their ability to continue offering quality education,” the company said.
Starlink has yet to confirm an estimated launch date for South Africa, but its roaming service has been used by several thousand people in rural areas for over a year and a half.
These customers most often have a Starlink kit registered in an African country with official support for the service — which now includes Mozambique, Eswatini, Zambia, and Rwanda.
While addresses in these countries would be their kits’ “home” base, Starlink has enabled its roaming feature to work in many countries without official support — including South Africa.
While the feature came with a 60-day maximum continuous use period from the get-go, Starlink only recently started acting against users in South Africa who exceeded that threshold.
It first sent warning letters about violating its terms of service when using Starlink in this way in April 2024. Nothing came from that initial threat.
However, it made good on its second warning of cutoffs starting from 21 August 2024.
While the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has warned that Starlink is operating illegally in the country, the service has been described as a connectivity game-changer in areas with no, slow, or limited other broadband options.
South African Starlink roaming users on multiple Facebook groups have also expressed frustration over the cutoff.
Among the affected businesses are safari lodges, which could offer their guests high-speed Internet as a value-added service thanks to Starlink.
“They are now struggling to maintain the level of service expected by international tourists,” IcasaSePush said.
The company also listed several other types of users impacted by the cutoff, including:
- Small and medium enterprises in underserved areas that gained the ability to manage online sales and customer service.
- Healthcare entities like rural clinics using Starlink to facilitate telemedicine consultations, allowing them to send data and receive outcomes of tests while operating remotely.
- Mines and mining companies that used Starlink to maintain connectivity for business continuity and operational efficiency.
- Construction companies working on remote sites relying on Starlink for Internet connectivity to coordinate logistics, manage projects, and maintain communication with headquarters.
- Agricultural operations like farms and agribusinesses using Starlink to access real-time data for precision farming, manage equipment, and improve overall productivity.
- Universities and research Institutions using Starlink to support research activities, remote learning, and collaborations with global partners.
- Residential individual users in remote or underserved areas accessing reliable Internet for remote work, online education, and general connectivity needs.
IcasaSePush has established several workarounds for helping users get back online with the 60-day cutoff mechanism in place.
Among these is switching to a global roaming subscription — which does not have the same “home” base check-in requirement as the regional subscription.
However, a global roaming subscription costs around $451.67 per month in the countries where most South African Starlink roaming users have their kits registered — over four times the price of regional roaming.
The more affordable but significantly more cumbersome option is to physically travel with the kit to the country of registration every two months, access Starlink from there, and then return to South Africa.
- IcasaSePush has launched a service for those who do not want to pay the substantially more expensive global subscription and are unable to transport the kits themselves.
“This service involves physically resetting their service for them, providing a temporary solution to keep them connected while we continue to push for a permanent resolution,” IcasaSePush said.
