In March 2025, Elon Musk’s Starlink went live in Niger after the country’s military government gave it a five-year license to operate.
That made Niger the latest African country to greenlight Starlink, right after its launch in Liberia earlier in January 2025. But the company’s Africa journey kicked off in January 2023, when it first launched in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country.
Starlink came in with big promises, to boost internet access in Nigeria and eventually roll out across Africa, where only about 40% of the 1.3 billion people are online, the lowest internet penetration rate in the world.
But things haven’t gone smoothly everywhere. Starlink has been unable to operate in some countries due to issues like regulatory approval.
For example, despite being available in several neighbouring countries, Starlink is still not live in South Africa, Africa’s most developed economy.
Talks to bring it there have stalled multiple times, even as people look for better internet options.
Right now, Starlink serves over 2.6 million users worldwide, using a network of around 5,500 satellites that SpaceX started launching in 2019.
No comments:
Post a Comment