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Yesterday, Nigeria became the first African country where Elon Musk’s SpaceX internet service, Starlink, became active.
This announcement comes seven months after Musk initially announced that Starlink had received approval to launch in Nigeria—and Mozambique.
According to the website, Starlink offers speeds of 50–200Mbps in most areas in Nigeria—an upgrade considering 5G speeds in Nigeria struggle at 130Mbps.
So How Much Is It?
The one-time hardware costs ₦274,098 ($595) while its 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—$956 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 to $1.
The Big Picture:
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. TechCabal
