The main points:
- Starlink, the American company does not yet have a license to operate its service in Zimbabwe
- IMC, which the Zimbabwean president had said had been approved to provide Starlink service in Zimbabwe, does not have a Potraz license yet
- IMC, which Zimbabwe’s president claimed had a sole and exclusive local partner, has no such agreement with Starlink. In fact, sources tell Techzim, Starlink don’t want anything to do with IMC
- Given these events and information, Zimbabweans should not expect Starlink services to be legal any time soon. Of course Starlink service itself continues to work locally for people “roaming” in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s telecoms regulator, Potraz, has said that no company has the exclusive right to offer Starlink services in Zimbabwe. The country simply has no such provisions in its telecommunications laws.
Speaking to the government controlled publication Herald Potraz director-general Dr Gift Machengete said:
In our licence categories, we have no licences for exclusivity. Our licences are not technology-specific.
The Herald article also says that Potraz is still processing the application by Starlink the American company for a license in Zimbabwe.
Potraz also made it clear that while it has approved IMC’s license, it has not granted the license yet (yes, there’s a difference). And even when it does, it is a license for operating an internet service in Zimbabwe, and does not grant the IMC any technology or supplier exclusivity. It’s just not within their power to do.
Remember the President said in May:
I’m pleased to announce that i have approved the licensing of Starlink by POTRAZ to provide advanced internet and related digital processing services in Zimbabwe through its sole and exclusive local partner, IMC Communications (Pvt) Ltd.
Turns out IMC is not a Starlink “partner” or “Authorised Reseller”. IMC’s own CEO admitted this recently after he was pushed by the interviewer to say when his company would start reselling Starlink kits:
“…the president is eager, if it was possible to roll it out before the SADC Summit… but we still have to finish the signing, the reseller agreements, whatever whatever.”
Denny Marandure, IMC CEO
Yes. No signed agreement. From what we hear here at Techzim, Starlink don’t want anything to do with IMC. So no “finishing of signing” is about to happen. In fact, sources tell us the IMC is busy finding workarounds to this doors that’s been shut in their face. The president was less than honest about things.
In fact, what will delay Starlink’s licensing in Zimbabwe is this attempt to force them to partner a specific company. Starlink would understandably approach its partnerships based on its own commercial and technical terms. In addition of course to some due diligence just to ensure they’re not about to work with crooks.
All this is pointing to one thing: we should not expect Starlink legal operations in Zimbabwe any time soon.
You’d ofcourse think the stuff we discussed above are the main reasons. From what we can tell though, they are not. It’s more a commercial and legal issue. With current laws requiring Starlink to get their international bandwidth locally (so the government is technically able to see the content we’re browsing, and can also order a shut down of the internet when it needs), it’s just too expensive for them to operate in Zimbabwe.
Until that part of the requirements is revised, or they can get better bandwidth prices from Liquid and TelOne, we’ll have to wait.
What’s your take? Cancel reply