Elon Musk’s SpaceX has selected Nigeria to be the first African country to receive its Starlink satellite internet service.
This week, SpaceX announced the availability of the satellite internet service in the West African country.
However, though South Africans have been waiting for the service in the country since 2021, the Starlink coverage map shows the date for the service’s availability in the country is still “unknown”.
Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite internet access coverage to 47 countries.
It also aims for global mobile phone service after 2023. SpaceX started launching Starlink satellites in 2019.
Of late, Starlink has hogged the limelight for providing a critical communication lifeline to Ukraine’s government and civilians despite persistent Russian bombing of traditional telecommunication infrastructures across the war-ravaged country.
Expectations were high among locals that South African-born Musk would prioritise his country of birth with providing the connectivity solution.
In South Africa, satellite connectivity is expected to play a critical role in connecting remote and rural areas frequently shunned by fibre and LTE providers, which do not see the business case in investing in those locations.
According to Statista, as of 2022, the share of the total population of South Africa using the internet was nearly 80% and the figure is estimated to grow up to 90% by 2027.
“Starlink is now available in Nigeria – the first African country to receive service!” SpaceX said in a tweet this week.
Nigerian publication Vanguard reports that the country’s minister of communication, Isa Pantami, last week indicated Nigeria achieved 100% broadband coverage with the licensing of SpaceX’s Starlink.
It adds that Starlink is available in all remote areas of Nigeria and with an internet speed of 50Mbps to 200Mbps.
With South Africa’s case for Starlink still “unknown”, SpaceX’s coverage map shows that about 20 African countries will get the offering before South Africa.
For example, according to the live map, South Africa’s Southern African peers Mozambique will get Starlink in the second quarter of 2023, Namibia (starting 2024), Angola (Q2 2023) and Tanzania (starting 2023).
Other African countries with “unknown” Starlink availability statuses include Algeria, Libya, Niger, Ethiopia and Sudan, among others.
SpaceX, in 2021, had opened pre-orders for the internet connectivity platform to South Africans.
However, this was pushed back, as a result of the global semiconductor shortage spurred by COVID-19 lockdowns.
At the time, the US-based company anticipated South Africa would get the service in 2022.
Now, it seems the firm does not have a clear timeframe to make Starlink available locally.
Recent reports indicated regulatory issues can be cited as the reason for the delays in launching in South Africa.
For example, for SpaceX to go live in South Africa, the company needs to get an operating licence from telecoms regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.
Nonetheless, with SpaceX seemingly shunning South Africa, the satellite industry in the country has been thriving in the absence of Starlink, with companies like Q-KON leading the charge.
“We welcome the buzz surrounding Starlink, and we are confident it will translate into a desire among businesses to look closer to home for fast, reliable satellite business broadband for facilities ranging from lodges to mines and farms,” Dawie de Wet, CEO of Q-KON, the company behind Twoobii, recently told ITWeb.
Twoobii is a high-throughput satellite connectivity service, powered by the latest Intelsat platforms and managed by satellite engineering enterprise Q-KON.
Telkom subsidiary BCX also recently announced it is targeting off-grid internet users after forging a partnership with smart satellite service Twoobii.
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