Africa: Elon Musk’s Starlink company announces launch of services in 23 African countries in 2023

In 2021, Starlink began negotiations with the authorities of certain African countries in order to obtain the necessary authorizations to provide its satellite connectivity services there. Currently, the company has already obtained licenses in Mozambique, Nigeria and Malawi. 

Billionaire Elon Musk’s company Starlink is set to launch its satellite internet services in 23 African countries in 2023. The company has drawn up a launch schedule based on how long it takes to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals in the countries. concerned.

These are Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, eSwatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Republic Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Somaliland, Benin, Togo, Gambia, Nigeria, Western Sahara and Seychelles.

According to the established schedule, 14 more countries should receive the services of the American company in 2024. However, the company has not yet set a launch date for 17 countries on the continent.

Starlink is thus pursuing its African expansion strategy as part of its parent company SpaceX’s ambition to bring broadband everywhere on the planet, including the most remote and landlocked areas, which are therefore difficult to access for operators. mobiles. With approximately 60% of the African continent’s population without internet access, the company sees business opportunities to explore in a context marked by the acceleration in demand for broadband connectivity on the continent since 2020, due to of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It should be recalled that Starlink began prospecting in the African satellite Internet market as early as 2021. The company has already obtained licenses in Mozambique, Nigeria and Malawi, respectively in February, May and October 2022.

Satellite telecommunications services now represent an alternative for effective access of African populations, sometimes landlocked, to broadband. This is what explains the growing interest of many satellite telecom service providers such as SES, Eutelsat, Intelsat, Viasat, Amazon, OneWeb for the continent.