Nigeria and Mozambique has approved Elon Musk’s Starlink. On Friday, Tesla CEO Musk announced on Twitter that Starlink, the satellite internet constellation launched by SpaceX, his space exploration company, has been approved in Nigeria and Mozambique.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also confirmed this announcement.
This licensing was followed by a visit to Nigeria by a company’s team in May last year to discuss the possibility of obtaining a license.
According to NCC, the International Gateway license has a 10-year tenure while the ISP license is to last for five years. Both licenses take effect from May 2022 and may be renewed after the expiration,” per Nairametrics.
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 simpler terms, it delivers super-fast internet via satellites to rural areas.
It is theoretically capable of delivering 150Mbps internet speeds to any place on the planet. All the customer needs is a clear view of the sky.
Starlink enters a Nigerian Internet service provider space that is dominated by telcos like MTN and Airtel, as well as individual ISPs such as Spectranet, SMILE and others.
Compared to existing similar internet plans in Nigeria which cost an average of $50, Starlink is a more expensive option costing $599 (~₦330,000) for a full kit, including a terminal, mounting tripod, and Wi-Fi router, then a $110 (~₦60,500) for preorder and monthly subscription. Its premium service costs about $2,500 (~₦1.375 million) for the full kit and $500 (~₦275,000) monthly.
This price is quite expensive for the average Nigerian, except it considers the Nigerian market and does well to introduce a different package.
