Nigeria Becomes First In Africa With Starlink Internet Access

This was confirmed by the Elon Musk-owned company in a tweet on Monday, which noted that Nigeria was the first African nation to use its services.

“Starlink is now available in Nigeria, the first country in Africa to receive service,” it tweeted.

Starlink Internet services are now available in Nigeria, which is the 47th country worldwide.

By utilizing a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites to give high-speed internet service with the ability to reach remote and geographically isolated regions, Starlink aims to deliver a global broadband network.

The Nigerian Communications Commission estimates that as of December 2022, broadband penetration was at 47.36 percent. Nigeria aims to have a 50% broadband penetration rate in 2023 and a 90% rate in 2025.

The ‘Nigerian National Broadband Plan: 2020–2025,’ reads in part, “The new Broadband Plan is designed to deliver data download speeds across Nigeria of a minimum 25Mbps in urban areas, and 10Mbps in rural areas, with effective coverage available to at least 90 per cent of the population by 2025 at a price not more than N390 per 1GB of data (i.e. 2 per cent of median income or 1 per cent of minimum wage).

Recently, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, stated that the country had achieved 100 per cent broadband coverage following the licensing and operation of Starlink.

He said, “Based on the National Broadband Plan, we were to have 90 per cent broadband coverage by December 2025. However, we recently gave a license to Starlink to provide services, and this has given us 100% coverage, about 3 years ahead of schedule.”

While Starlink has now commenced operations in Nigeria, there are concerns about how its high price will hinder the ability of citizens to access its services.