Mid-last year, we told you about Elon Musk’s plans to launch Starlink in Africa. This was after the SpaceX internet service had received approval to launch in Nigeria and Mozambique. It came to pass! On January 30th, 2023, Nigeria became the first African country where Starlink became active; and there is reason enough to get excited.
For a vibrant economy like Nigeria, it is no doubt that there is heavy reliance on internet activity. Most companies including banks, government organizations, small and medium-sized firms, and huge multinationals literally run on it.
And for individuals that run online gigs such as developers, digital marketers, and remote workers; the commonest challenges raised in their daily activity revolve around insufficient bandwidth, poor connection, frequent downtime, and “unlimited” plans with caps, among others. This is soon history.
Recent surveys point to Starlink as one of the world’s fastest and most dependable internet service providers. The internet service offers speeds of 50–200Mbps in most areas in Nigeria. This is an honest upgrade considering 5G speeds in Nigeria average at 130Mbps.
How to get Starlink internet in Nigeria
Getting Starlink is simply a matter of visiting Starlink.com and confirming that your location is covered by the service area. You just have to easily plug your address into the SpaceX coverage map and then sign up for the service.
The initial signup requires you to provide your physical address and card information. It is from here that you will determine whether you can expect your Starlink kit within the usual 2-week window of time, or if you’ll be placed on a waitlist for an unspecified amount of time.
How much does Starlink cost?
Starlink hardware and shipping comes at the cost of N276,000 ($600). The monthly subscription—which allows up to 128 device connections and uncapped data—costs ₦19,780 ($43) making it the most expensive internet service in the country.
But many Nigerians, especially entrepreneurs, and businesses may be driven more by the speed than the high cost. And whenever one is ready to stop service, one can do so with no early termination fees or cancellation penalties.
The only challenge at hand is that Nigerians who will order Starlink will find themselves paying more given the country’s current ban on international transactions on domestic cards. While the service offers pricing in naira, payment cannot be made in naira. Yet, for the bigger part of 2022, banks had imposed strict measures on international transactions.
Several Nigerian banks announced a $20 spending limit on international transactions due to the prolonged scarcity of foreign exchange and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) strict capital control regime. Due to this, interested parties may find themselves paying up to ₦440,000 ($956).
Where else is Starlink launching in Africa?
Nigeria is only the first; Starlink is coming to even more African countries.
According to the service’s availability map, 20 more countries, including Zambia, Senegal, Morocco, and Angola are scheduled for a 2023 launch. Sixteen other countries including Uganda, Tunisia, Ghana, and Egypt are scheduled for a 2024 release while 18 more countries have unconfirmed launch windows.
