Elon Musk Announces His Starlink Network is Coming to Nigeria – Reveals Benefits
Billionaire businessman, Elon Musk has reportedly received approval from the Federal Government of Nigeria to launch his Starlink network, a high-speed, low-latency broadband internet in remote and rural locations across the globe in Nigeria.
With this approval, Musk is expected to compete with Nigeria’s household names like MTN, Airtel, 9mobile, Globacom, Swift, Spectranet, Mainone, FibreOne, Smile and a host of others in the ISP space.
Musk’s Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite Internet access coverage to 32 countries where its use has been licensed.
It can be argued that Nigerians will not only enjoy a high-speed network, but one with a low-latency broadband which has been optimized to process a very high volume of data with minimal delay.
Speaking on the approval, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) confirmed to Nairametrics that it has licensed Starlink, a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX.
This licensing is a direct fallout of a visit to Nigeria by the company’s team in May 2021.
Things You Should Know and Why It Matters
- Stiff competition in the market often forces the operators to crash their prices as they battle for customers. Should Starlink be willing to compete on the price front, this will be a big win for internet users in Nigeria.
- With satellite service from Starlink, Nigeria will be able to bridge its access gap, especially in the rural areas not being reached by the current operators
- Starlink is a low latency broadband internet system created to meet the needs of consumers in rural areas with low internet penetration across the globe.
- In terms of speed, Starlink is theoretically capable of delivering 150Mbps internet speeds to any place on the planet. This will challenge other operators in the country to upgrade their broadband services to achieve competitive speed in the market.
- With the International Gateway license, Starlink is allowed to construct, own, operate, maintain and use an International Gateway for the provision and operation of international access and gateway services in Nigeria.
- This means that the company can provide services such as global mobile personal communication by satellite, mobile radio services, VSAT Services, internet node, and backbone services.
- In this category, Starlink will be competing with Globacom, Prest Cable & Satellite TV Systems Ltd, IMBIL Telecom Solutions Nig Ltd, and Green Foot Global Resources Ltd., who all have the same license in Nigeria
Source: Nairametrics
