Elon’s Starlink To Begin Operations In Nigeria And Mozambique

Some days ago, Elon Musk tweeted that Nigeria and Mozambique had approved Starlink. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also confirmed to Nairametrics that it had licensed Starlink.

“First two countries in Africa with Starlink regulatory approval; Starlink is now licensed on all seven continents!” Elon stated in his tweet. This means that Starlink enters the Nigerian Internet service provider space dominated by telcos like MTN and Airtel and individual ISPs such as Spectranet, SMILE, and others.

Starlink, powered by SpaceX, provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet to meet the needs of consumers in rural areas with low internet penetration. In simpler terms, it delivers super-fast internet via satellites to rural areas. With high speeds and latency as low as 20 minutes in most locations, Starlink enables video calls, online gaming, streaming, and other high data rate activities that historically have not been possible with satellite internet.

The approval comes after a visit to Nigeria by the company’s team last year’s May to discuss the possibility of procuring a license. Starlink currently has over 400,000 subscribers in over 36 countries around the world.

“The company received two licenses, the International Gateway license, and Internet Service Provider (ISP) license, and will be trading as Starlink Internet Services Nigeria Ltd. According to NCC, the International Gateway license has a 10-year tenure, while the ISP license lasts for five years. Both licenses take effect from May 2022 and may be renewed after the expiration.” NCC