Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Europeans forgetting to write center instead of center.
Elon Musk: Force for anthropic advancement or self-serving con-artist?
- Thread starter Kyriakos
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Looks like it was peaceful.Tesla protest day is today.
Will see how it goes.
“Tesla Takedown Day” Looms as 500 Protests Are Planned Worldwide
A worldwide protest called “Tesla Takedown Day” is set for March 29. The protests will target Tesla (TSLA) and CEO Elon Musk, who now leads the ...markets.businessinsider.com
Counter-protestors calling themselves Tesla Shield might show up.
Ordnael
Emperor
Elon’s Edsel: Tesla Cybertruck Is The Auto Industry’s Biggest Flop In Decades
Elon Musk’s Epic Cybertruck Fail
Elon Musk’s polygonal pickup is a polarizing sales flop that's missed the billionaire’s volume goal by a staggering 84%. And there’s no sign that things are improving.
www.forbes.com
The list of famous auto industry flops is long and storied, topped by stinkers like Ford’s Edsel and exploding Pinto and General Motors’s unsightly Pontiac Aztek crossover SUV. Even John Delorean’s sleek, stainless steel DMC-12, iconic from its role in the “Back To The Future” films, was a sales dud that drove the company to bankruptcy.
Elon Musk’s pet project, the dumpster-driving Tesla Cybertruck, now tops that list.
After a little over a year at market, sales of the 6,600-pound vehicle, priced from $82,000, are laughably below what Musk predicted. Its lousy reputation for quality–with eight recalls in the past 13 months, the latest for body panels that fall off–and polarizing look made it a punchline for comedians. Unlike past auto flops that just looked ridiculous or sold badly, Musk’s truck is also a focal point for global Tesla protests spurred by the billionaire’s job-slashing DOGE role and MAGA politics.
“It’s right up there with Edsel,” said Eric Noble, president of consultancy CARLAB and a professor at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California (Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen, who styled Cybertruck for Musk, is a graduate of its famed transportation design program). “It’s a huge swing and a huge miss.”
Judged solely on sales, Musk’s Cybertruck is actually doing a lot worse than Edsel, a name that’s become synonymous with a disastrous product misfire. Ford hoped to sell 200,000 Edsels a year when it hit the market in 1958, but managed just 63,000. Sales plunged in 1959 and the brand was dumped in 1960. Musk predicted that Cybertruck might see 250,000 annual sales. Tesla sold just under 40,000 in 2024, its first full year. There’s no sign that volume is rising this year, with sales trending lower in January and February, according to Cox Automotive.
And Tesla’s overall sales are plummeting this year, with deliveries tumbling 13% in the first quarter to 337,000 units, well below consensus expectations of 408,000. The company did not break out Cybertruck sales, which is lumped in with the Model S and Model X, its priciest segment. But it’s clear Cybertruck sales were hurt this quarter by the need to make recall-related fixes, Ben Kallo, an equity analyst for Baird, said in a research note. Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The quarterly slowdown underscores the fact that when it comes to the Cybertruck, results are nowhere near the billionaire entrepreneur’s carnival barker claims.
“Demand is off the charts,” he crowed during a results call in November 2023, just before the first units started shipping to customers. “We have over 1 million people who have reserved the car.”
In anticipation of high sales, Tesla even modified its Austin Gigafactory so it could produce up to 250,000 Cybertrucks a year, capacity investments that aren’t likely to be recouped.
“They didn't just say they wanted to sell a lot. They capacitized to sell a lot,” said industry researcher Glenn Mercer, who leads Cleveland-based advisory firm GM Automotive. But the assumption of massive demand has proven foolhardy. And it failed to account for self-inflicted wounds that further stymied sales. Turns out the elephantine Cybertruck is either too large or non-compliant with some countries’ pedestrian safety rules, so there’s little opportunity to boost sales with exports.
“They haven’t sold a lot and it’s unlikely in this case that overseas markets can save them, even China that’s been huge for Tesla cars,” Mercer said. “It’s really just for this market.”
A Cybertruck drives by protesters at the Tesla Showroom in Somerset, Massachusetts.
UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
More than a decade before Cybertruck went into production, Musk hinted that Tesla would eventually do some kind of electric pickup. When he unveiled his design to the world for the first time, Musk was clear that he did not want a conventional aesthetic or even something that played with pickup looks a bit but was still familiar, the approach Rivian took with its R1T pickup.
“Pickup trucks have been the same for 100 years,” and Cybertruck “doesn’t look like anything else,” said Musk, who earlier that month had proudly told an audience at a conference for space entrepreneurs, “I do zero market research whatsoever.”
That would be an apt tagline for Musk’s preposterous pickup. “The spectacular failure of Cybertruck was a failure of empathy,” said CARLAB’s Noble, whose company helps carmakers develop products based on consumer research. “Everything from the bed configuration to the cab configuration to its performance and all sorts of pickup truck duty-cycle issues, it’s just not empathetic to a pickup truck buyer.”
Cybertruck’s distinctive look resulted from two key forces, said a person familiar with the development process, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. One was Musk’s passion for sci-fi designs. The other was an early decision to create a vehicle that didn’t need to be painted.
If Tesla opted not to paint the trucks, it wouldn’t need to install a new $200 million paintshop, a big potential cost savings. And it wouldn’t have to worry about EPA scrutiny from the harmful emissions and runoff those facilities often produce.
Ultimately, Musk opted for a stainless steel exterior, the same choice Delorean made for his ill-fated sports car four decades earlier. But because Musk isn’t a production engineer, he may not have fully appreciated the challenges it presents versus aluminum or composite materials, the person said. Aside from the fact that stainless steel shows handprints–a common gripe about kitchen appliances–it’s hard to bend and likes to snap back to its original shape, one of the reasons there have been problems with Cybertruck body panels.
“This is where I think they misconstrued the tradeoff,” Mercer said. “They drooled over not spending $200 million on a paint shop, but probably spent that much trying to get the stainless steel to work.”
Developing Cybertruck, including tooling expenses to make it in Austin, probably cost Tesla about $900 million, he estimated. And unlike the company’s other vehicles, like the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover, it doesn’t appear that the Cybertruck shares any development and production costs with other Tesla products.
“Does it have a demonstrated technology that could be used elsewhere by the company? That is not the case,” Mercer said. “Can the manufacturing plant make all this other stuff based on investments for Cybertruck? No, it can’t. An unpainted stainless steel vehicle just doesn’t have that much broad traction.”
There were bad omens from the start. At the vehicle’s unveiling in November 2019 to raucous Tesla fans in Los Angeles, a demonstration of Cybertruck’s supposedly shatter-proof “armor” glass by Musk and von Holzhausen went hilariously awry when a steel ball hurled at the vehicle busted the driver-side window twice.
“Oh my fudging God,” a chagrined Musk said. “We’ll fix it in post.”
Then there was the price. Musk had promised that a base version of the vehicle with 250 miles of range would start at $39,900. He was off by about half.
Currently, the base version of the truck, ostensibly priced from $72,490, costs $82,235 before a $7,500 federal tax credit that President Trump has vowed to eliminate. It claims up to 325 miles of range–if you don’t tow anything or drive too fast. The top-end “Cyberbeast” version is $105,735 and too pricey for the credit.
Though Tesla isn’t making the entry-level version Musk promised in 2019, plunging resale values have made used Cybertrucks quite a bit more affordable, according to auto news site Jalopnik. You can get a lightly used one for less than $70,000, assuming you’re comfortable with the implied risk of vandalism. And prices could go lower still, exacerbated by about $200 million of unsold inventory the company is sitting on, Tesla fansite Electrek said this week.
In the end, Musk cursed the Cybertruck by ignoring the reasons people buy pickup trucks — to haul things around and drive well in offroad conditions. The vehicle isn’t competent at either of those things, as has been endlessly documented in scathing reviews, a steady stream of “Cybertruck fail” videos and a 280,000-member “CyberStuck” Subreddit. Adding to the embarrassment is a developing sub-genre of videos showing stymied Cybertrucks being towed to safety by Ford F-150s or GM Silverados.
“If there's anything the Detroit Three know how to do, it's full-size pickup trucks with extremely loyal buyers,” Mercer said. “He launched Cybertruck into the teeth of the hardest segment to crack.”
Gori the Grey
The Poster
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 13,244
My grandparents owned an Edsel. The one I associate with most was the exploding Pinto.
Klaus Hergersheimer
Emperor
I don't know why anyone thinks they're cool. I saw one the other day, it reminded me of those tape decks from the 1980s with that sort-of chrome surface. Very bland and angular.
It looks like having xAI buy X has made Musk even richer than before.
And it removed the risk of sinking Tesla shares triggering a margin call and forcing him to sell his shares at a low price to cover his loan. (It would have happened at roughly $110 per share for Tesla?)
Margin call idea looks like it was never true.
Since he is in charge of both companies, I can see why he would go for it if it makes him a lot richer.
www.forbes.com
See, he didn't overpay after all.
Capitalism wins again!
Margin call idea looks like it was never true.
Since he is in charge of both companies, I can see why he would go for it if it makes him a lot richer.
Elon Musk Scores $33 Billion In Self-Serving Merger
The world’s richest person announced on Friday that he has combined two of his multi-billion-dollar companies. Here’s how much he stands to make from the unusual deal.
www.forbes.com
See, he didn't overpay after all.
Capitalism wins again!
The valuations of privately held companies are generally whatever the owners want them to be. They are not market driven like public companies.It looks like having xAI buy X has made Musk even richer than before.
And it removed the risk of sinking Tesla shares triggering a margin call and forcing him to sell his shares at a low price to cover his loan. (It would have happened at roughly $110 per share for Tesla?)
Margin call idea looks like it was never true.
Since he is in charge of both companies, I can see why he would go for it if it makes him a lot richer.
Elon Musk Scores $33 Billion In Self-Serving Merger
The world’s richest person announced on Friday that he has combined two of his multi-billion-dollar companies. Here’s how much he stands to make from the unusual deal.
See, he didn't overpay after all.
Capitalism wins again!
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
that's why
On 12/17/2024 Tesla stock peaked at $483/share
Today Tesla closed at $233/share.
410 million shares x -$250 per share is a loss of $102.5 billion. Seem like a big number.
Today Tesla closed at $233/share.
410 million shares x -$250 per share is a loss of $102.5 billion. Seem like a big number.
ayy lmao
Lexicus
Deity
The dude has write access to the Treasury, that's literally infinite money lol
Ordnael
Emperor
Are they playing good cop, bad cop now!?
www.euronews.com
Elon Musk says he hopes for 'free trade zone' between Europe and the US
Elon Musk says he hopes for 'free trade zone' between Europe and US
The billionaire advisor to the US president was speaking via video link at a conference of Matteo Salvini's League party in Italy. #EuropeNews
www.euronews.com
The billionaire advisor to the US president was speaking via video link at a conference of Matteo Salvini's League party in Italy.
US President Donald Trump's billionaire advisor Elon Musk said on Saturday he hopes in the US and Europe could eventually establish “a very close, stronger partnership” and reach a “zero-tariff zone situation.”
Musk was speaking via video link the party congress of Italian far-right party League, which is in a ruling coalition led by Premier Giorgia Meloni.
"I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero-tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America," Musk told Matteo Salvini, the LEGA party leader, via video conference.
Musk also said that the agreement should include the free movement of people between both regions, and that this was his advice to president Trump.
"That's what I hope occurs. And, also, more freedom for people to move between Europe and North America if they wish, if they wish to work in Europe or wish to work in America. They should be allowed to do so, in my view. So , that has certainly been my advice to the president."
Musk, who owns Tesla, SpaceX, and the social media platform X, has played a key role in US government downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk's comments come amidst trade war
Musk's comments were in stark contrast to the sweeping tariffs announced last week by Trump, which include a minimum 10% tariff on imports to the US and 20% on imports from the EU.
A close and powerful ally of Trump, Musk's comments notably came a day after China hit back at the US with 34% tariffs of its, which caused markets to slide by margins not seen since the COVID pandemic.
The tariffs imposed by China come into force on Saturday 10 April.
President Donald Trump reads a The NY Post as he arrives at Trump National Golf Club, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Jupiter, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Trump was swift to criticise Beijing’s retaliatory move. “China played it wrong; they panicked -- the one thing they cannot afford to do,” he wrote in a social media post, adding, “My policies will never change. This is a great time to get rich.”
Last week, oil prices recorded their worst performance in months, and the US dollar plummeted following the announcement of the tariffs in what Trump called the US' "Liberation Day".
Ursula von der Leyen
EU vows to defend interests
Meanwhile on Sunday, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen reiterated the EU's commitment to negotiating with the US, while also saying it will defend its interests through proportionate countermeasures if necessary. Von der Leyen's statement came after a phone call with the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer.
She expressed her deep concern over the tariffs announced by President Trump on 2 April and the harm they pose to all countries, both through their direct and indirect effects, including on the world's poorest nations.
Since being announced, the Trump administration's tariffs have sparked concern for global trade and economy, with countries taking different approaches as try to find the best way to deal with the potential disruption to trade and supply chains.
The policy measures, which Trump vows will boost the American economy by bringing more investment and creating jobs, have drawn condemnation from leaders of the affected nations.
Economists and analysts have also warned that the tariffs could lead to a contraction in global trade from disruption to supply chains, and may drive many countries into an economic recession, including the US.
r16
not deity
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
- Messages
- 12,021
trump said Musk is leaving soon , according to the echo chamber , which might have tried it as an April Fools . No , there is no seperation until Barron is denied the acknowledgement as the Crown Prince . Right Wing tumblr already claims he identified the correct election strategy for his dad in 2024 .
EnglishEdward
Deity
I very much doubt it.
Elon Musk's interests (selling TESLAs in the EU and poorly regulated X services throughout the world)
directly clash with
the MAGA rust belt supporters (rebuild manufacturing via protective tariffs) interests.
Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
The classic "I'm not attacking the Emperor, I'm doing a coup to rid him of his evil advisors!" line.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Every lie is an admission or plan: "the treasury outflows are 5-10% off from the ledger"
GDP is $27 trillion.
So his window for distorting the ledger is upward giving himself $2.7 trillion.
edit: or if he means gov't spending more likely, upward giving himself $680 billion.
Last edited:
Elon Musk Reportedly Doing Something Horrid to Power His AI Data Center
It's no secret that Elon Musk's wealth is staggering. At the time of writing, he's worth over $325 billion. To give that number a sense of scale, that's $62 billion more than the total annual salary of every worker in Michigan combined — all 4.3 million of them.
So why is he powering his data centers with rinky-dink portable generators?
New aerial surveillance footage obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center has found that Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, is using 35 methane gas generators to power its "Colossus" supercomputer facility, the backbone of its flagship Grok. That's 20 more generators than the 15 xAI filed permits for, and 35 more than it was approved to use.
The data center, nestled in historic south Memphis, came online last September, despite protests from community leaders. AI data centers are notoriously loud, and hog water and electricity like a mid-sized American city. Case in point, the local utility company, Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) estimates the Memphis facility will soon be sucking up one million gallons of water per day, as well as 150 megawatts of power, once it reaches its full power.
Though the MLGW says it's "executed four standard electric service agreements, one water service, and one gas service agreement" with xAI — totaling 50 megawatts of power — Musk says the facility needs much more due to rapid power fluctuations in his system of 10 to 20 megawatts at a time.
But getting approval for that kind of power is a slow and cautious process, according to Bloomberg, as rapid data center construction runs up against the limits of what civilian power grids can provide. Never one to wait for approval, Musk has chosen instead to exploit a loophole in local regulations, which seemingly allow him to park a fleet of toxic methane generators outside his facility as long as they don't sit in the same location for 364 days.
Local residents, meanwhile, are left to deal with the toxic fallout. One report by ProPublica found that the cancer rate in this area of Memphis is four times higher than the national average. The low, flat land here has historically been used as an out-of-site locale for megacorporations to plant industrial facilities, resulting in waves of health crises as toxins like ethylene oxide and arsenic pollute the nearby ground, water, and air.
Generators like xAI's emit huge amounts of nitrogen dioxide, a highly reactive gas which causes irreversible respiratory damage over time. And that's before you consider its effects on the ozone layer, or its contribution to acid rain, smog, and nutrient pollution in local soil and waterways. With 35 generators now chugging along, that's a whole chorus of turbines spewing the toxic gas into low-income, minority-led communities 24/7.
MAGA surrounds Tesla store with gas trucks in least effective counterprotest ever
MAGA protestors surrounded a Tesla store in California with their gas trucks in what has to be the least effective counterprotest ever.
When you need MAGA and Proud Boys to counter-protest for your brand, you know your brand is in trouble.
At Tesla’s store in Rocklin, California, MAGA came by the dozens to counter-protest a Tesla protest with a barrage of gasoline trucks in front of the store:
The problem in MAGA’s logic here is that their counter-protests might be just as effective at deterring potential buyers as Tesla Takedown’s protests.
Who wants to go through that to buy a car? Proud Boys members were also reportedly at the event. While there were some interactions between the Tesla protestors and counter-protestors, no significant incidents were reported.
Interestingly, not a single one of these MAGA counter-protestors had a Tesla vehicle. Based on the videos, they all showed up to support Tesla in gasoline trucks.
Video here
MAGA protestors surrounded a Tesla store in California with their gas trucks in what has to be the least effective counterprotest ever.
When you need MAGA and Proud Boys to counter-protest for your brand, you know your brand is in trouble.
At Tesla’s store in Rocklin, California, MAGA came by the dozens to counter-protest a Tesla protest with a barrage of gasoline trucks in front of the store:
The problem in MAGA’s logic here is that their counter-protests might be just as effective at deterring potential buyers as Tesla Takedown’s protests.
Who wants to go through that to buy a car? Proud Boys members were also reportedly at the event. While there were some interactions between the Tesla protestors and counter-protestors, no significant incidents were reported.
Interestingly, not a single one of these MAGA counter-protestors had a Tesla vehicle. Based on the videos, they all showed up to support Tesla in gasoline trucks.
Video here
Broken_Erika
Play with me.
Racially charged row between Musk and South Africa over Starlink
The tussle between Starlink boss Elon Musk and South Africa over the company's failure to launch in the country stems from the nation's black empowerment laws, and could be one factor behind the diplomatic row between the US and Africa's most industrialised nation.To his more than 219 million followers on his social media platform X, Mr Musk made the racially charged claim that his satellite internet service provider was "not allowed to operate in South Africa simply because I'm not black".
But the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) - a regulatory body in the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors - told the BBC that Starlink had never submitted an application for a licence.
As for the foreign ministry, it said the company was welcome to operate in the country "provided there's compliance with local laws".
So what are the legal sticking points?
To operate in South Africa, Starlink needs to obtain network and service licences, which both require 30% ownership by historically disadvantaged groups.This mainly refers to South Africa's majority black population, which was shut out of the economy during the racist system of apartheid.
White-minority rule ended in 1994 after Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) came to power.
Since then, the ANC has made "black empowerment" a central pillar of its economic policy in an attempt to tackle the racial injustices of the past.
This has included adopting legislation requiring investors to give local black firms a 30% stake in their businesses in South Africa.
Mr Musk - who was born in South Africa in 1971 before moving to Canada in the late 1980s and then to the US, where he became the world's richest man - appears to see this as the main stumbling block for Starlink to operate in the country.
Starlink, in a written submission to Icasa, said the black empowerment provisions in legislation excluded "many" foreign satellite operators from the South African market, according to local news site TechCentral.
But foreign ministry spokesperson Clayson Monyela challenged this view in March, saying on X that more than 600 US companies, including computing giant Microsoft, were operating in South Africa in compliance with its laws - and "thriving".
Are there attempts to end the impasse?
Mr Musk's Starlink has a potential ally in South Africa's Communications Minister Solly Malatsi.He comes from the Democratic Alliance (DA) - the second-biggest party in South Africa - which joined a coalition government after the ANC failed to get a parliamentary majority in last year's election.
The DA is a fierce critic of the current black empowerment laws, claiming they have fuelled cronyism and corruption with investors forced to link up with ANC-connected companies to operate in South Africa or to win state contracts.
Last October, Malatsi hinted that he was looking for a way to circumvent the 30% black equity requirement, saying he intended to issue a "policy direction" to Icasa with the aim of clarifying "the position on the recognition of equity equivalent programmes".
In simple terms, Malatsi seemed to be suggesting that Starlink would not a require black business partner in South Africa, though it would have to invest in social programmes aimed at benefiting black people - especially the poor.
But some six months later, Malatsi has failed to change the policy, with a spokesperson for his department telling the BBC that their legal team was still looking into the matter.
It seems the communications minister may be facing political resistance from ANC lawmakers in parliament.
Khusela Diko, the chairperson of the parliamentary communications committee to which Malatsi is accountable, warned him earlier this month that "transformation" in the tech sector was non-negotiable, appearing to oppose giving Mr Musk's Starlink any special treatment.
Diko said that "the law is clear on compliance" and, crucially added, that "cutting corners and circumvention is not an option - least of all to appease business interests".
Diko's tough position comes as no surprise, as relations between the South African government and the US have hit rock bottom during US President Donald Tump's second term.
Why have relations deteriorated?
Mr Musk, part of Trump's inner circle, has railed on X against what he calls "racist ownership laws" in South Africa, while the US president has threatened to boycott the G20 summit of world leaders to be held in the country later this year."How could we be expected to go to South Africa for the very important G20 Meeting when Land Confiscation and Genocide is the primary topic of conversation? They are taking the land of white Farmers, and then killing them and their families," Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.
His claims of a genocide against white farmers have been widely dismissed as false, but they echo those of the tech billionaire.
Last month, Mr Musk accused "a major" political party in South Africa - a reference to the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which came fourth in last year's election - of "actively promoting white genocide".
"A month ago, the South African government passed a law legalizing taking property from white people at will with no payment," Mr Musk said.
"Where is the outrage? Why is there no coverage by the legacy media?
South Africa did pass a law earlier this year allowing the government to seize property without compensation, but only in certain cases.
Nevertheless, Musk links these issues to his failure to get a licence for Starlink.
"Starlink can't get a license to operate in South Africa simply because I'm not black." he said back in March.
His hard-line stance comes despite meeting South Africa's president in New York last year.
At the time, Mr Musk described the meeting as "great", while President Cyril Ramaphosa said he had tried to persuade the billionaire to invest in South Africa.
"Meeting Elon Musk was a clear intention of mine... Some people call it bromance, so it's a whole process of rekindling his affection and connection with South Africa," Ramaphosa told South Africa's public broadcaster, SABC.
But he added that nothing had yet been "bedded down".
"As it happens with potential investors, you have to court them; you have to be talking to them, and you've got to be demonstrating to them that there is a conducive environment for them to invest. So, we will see how this turns out," the president said.
"He is South African-born and South Africa is his home, and I would want to see him coming to South Africa for a visit, tour or whatever."
But the "bromance" has long ended, with Mr Musk appearing to move closer to South Africa's right wing.
Has Starlink had problems elsewhere in Africa?
Lesotho appears to have bowed to pressure from the Trump administration by announcing on Monday that it had given a 10-year licence to Starlink.It comes after Trump imposed a 50% tariff on imports from Lesotho, threatening thousands of jobs in the country.
Trump subsequently paused that for 90 days, but a 10% tariff still came into effect on 5 April.
Some reports suggest the Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA) cleared regulatory hurdles to stave off the threat of a further tariff hike by granting Starlink a licence.
However, this was denied by Foreign Minister Lejone Mpotjoane.
"The licence application and the tariff negotiations should not be conflated," he said.
The decision to grant the licence was condemned by civil society group Section Two, which raised concern that Starlink Lesotho was 100% foreign-owned and lacked local ownership, South Africa's GroundUp news site reported.
"Such actions can only be described as a betrayal - a shameful sell-out by a government that appears increasingly willing to place foreign corporate interests above the democratic will and long-term developmental needs of the people of Lesotho," Section Two's co-ordinator Kananelo Boloetse was quoted as saying.
During public consultations over Starlink's application, Vodacom Lesotho had also argued that Mr Musk's company should establish local shareholding before receiving a licence, the Space in Africa website reported.
"These concerns highlight broader tensions surrounding Starlink's operations across Africa, particularly the growing demand for local partnerships," it added.
Starlink also appears to be seeking an exemption in Namibia from the requirement to bring in a local partner.
Namibia is a former colony of Germany, and was under the rule of South Africa's white-minority regime until it gained independence in 1990.
It has more stringent requirements than its post-apartheid neighbour, with businesses operating in Namibia needing to be 51% locally owned.
The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (Cran) told the BBC that Starlink had submitted an application for a telecommunications service licence in June 2024.
Cran said that while this process usually took between three to six months, a decision had not yet been taken because it "must first wait for the ownership exemption application to be finalised" by Namibia's information and communication technology minister.
How big is Starlink's Africa presence?
Starlink is now operating in more than 20 African countries, with Somalia, hit by an Islamist insurgency, giving it a 10-year licence on 13 April, two days before Lesotho's decision to do so."We welcome Starlink's entry to Somalia. This initiative aligns with our vision to deliver affordable and accessible internet services to all Somalis, regardless of where they live," Technology Minister Mohamed Adam Moalim Ali said.
Starlink aims to provide high-speed internet services to remote or underserved areas, making it a potential game-changer for rural areas unable to access traditional forms of connectivity such as mobile broadband and fibre.
This is because Starlink, rather than relying on fibre optics or cables to transmit data, uses a network of satellites in low Earth orbit. Because they are closer to the ground, they have faster transmission speeds than traditional satellites.
Nigeria was the first African state to allow Starlink to operate, in 2023. The company has since grown into the second-biggest internet service provider in Africa's most-populous country.
But Starlink still has no presence in South Africa - the continent's most industrialised nation.
Enterprising locals had found a way to connect to the service by using regional roaming packages purchased in countries where the service was available.
Starlink put an end to this last year while Icasa also warned local companies that those found providing the service illegally could face a hefty fine.
Yet with an estimated 20% of South Africans not having access to the internet at all - many in rural areas - it could prove beneficial for both Starlink and the government to reach a compromise.
For Starlink it could prove a lucrative market, while satellite broadband may help the government achieve its goal of providing universal internet access by 2030.
On Monday, Ramaphosa appointed former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas as his special envoy to the US, signalling his determination to mend relations with the Trump administration.
But Jonas' appointment faced a backlash in right-wing circles, as in a 2020 speech he called Trump a "racist homophobe" and a "narcissistic right-winger".
In an interview on the Money Show podcast, Jonas said that he made the comments when he was not in government and "people move on".
He acknowledged that it would be a "long slog to rebuild understanding", but added that South Africa's relationship with the US was "fundamentally important" and he was determined to improve it.
Jonas' comments are not surprising as the US is a major trading partner for South Africa. With Trump having threatened a 30% tariff on its goods, Ramaphosa cannot afford to see relations continuing to deteriorate and the economy taking further knocks.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly3d8gd8mno
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