Nigeria has became the first African country where Elon Musk’s SpaceX internet service, Starlink, has become active.
This announcement comes seven months after Musk initially announced that Starlink had received approval to launch in Nigeria and Mozambique.
Starlink is said to offer speeds of 50–200Mbps in most areas in Nigeria, which is better than 5G speeds in Nigeria at maximum of 130Mbps.
Cost
Purchase and set costs ₦274,098 ($595), while the monthly service fee—which allows up to 128 device connections and uncapped data—costs ₦19,260 ($42).
Unfortunately, though, 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.
Barring those with domiciliary cards, users may find themselves paying up to ₦440,000—$869 via Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) official rate of ₦460 to $1—while using virtual dollar cards which offer parallel rates as high as ₦743/$1.
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 countries—Uganda, Tunisia, Ghana and Egypt inclusive—are scheduled for a 2024 release while 18 more countries have unconfirmed launch windows.
