{"id":20422,"date":"2023-07-24T13:10:51","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T13:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet"},"modified":"2023-07-24T13:21:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T13:21:48","slug":"who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet","title":{"rendered":"Who will pay $110 a month in Africa\u2019s rural areas for Starlink internet?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span>American satellite internet company Starlink, a subsidiary of Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX, has finally announced its entry into the Kenyan market, intensifying competition in the industry. But many are querying its choice of target areas and its high charges.<\/p>\n

The company had announced in January it was awaiting regulatory approval to roll out services in Kenya and anticipates entering the country by end of June.<\/p>\n

Starlink was licensed in Rwanda in February, just months after getting the nod to operate in Nigeria last year.<\/p>\n

It also expects to begin selling its services in Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo within the year, and seeks to enter Uganda by 2024, subject to regulatory approvals.<\/p>\n

But while Starlink has invited customers in the region to pre-order satellite internet hardware at $9, Starlink will charge an upfront hardware cost of at least $599 for home users.<\/p>\n

Remote areas<\/p>\n

Many are yet to comprehend why their charges are so high and why they are targeting only \u201cremote areas\u201d because most other internet service providers (ISPs) in the region provide and install the fixed internet devices for free or for a fee not exceeding $50.<\/p>\n

Starlink\u2019s monthly subscription fees are also nowhere near the $15 – $30 charged by ISPs in the region. Residential users will need to part with at least $110 per month while business users will be incurring $500 monthly for Starlink\u2019s satellite internet services.<\/p>\n

Dennis Mwiti, managing director of Netpap, a Nairobi-based company providing automated internet services for ISPs, argues that at those rates, Starlink will not be able compete against traditional fixed internet companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for remote locations in Africa, Starlink will revolutionise internet connectivity because for those areas, it doesn\u2019t make business sense for the fixed internet companies to service, so they remain largely without reliable internet connectivity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, majority of Africa\u2019s tech savvy, elite and affluent populations live in cities, which begs the question — who will spend $110 monthly on internet in Africa\u2019s rural areas?<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will pay. There are businesses and individuals operating out of remote areas in Africa who just don\u2019t have reliable internet access and a satellite internet provider might just be the best solution for them,\u201d argued Mwiti.<\/p>\n

Safaricom, Kenya\u2019s leading telco, has also announced plans to roll out satellite internet. It is not yet clear how much Safaricom will charge for its services.<\/p>\n

This comes after regulators \u2013 Communications Authority of Kenya and the ICT Authority\u2013 launched a $37 million project to connect Kenyan remote areas to broadband internet through a 100,000km-long fibre optic cable.<\/p>\n

But besides the high charges and the intensified competition, there are also worries that the Starlink internet hardware can easily be stolen, given the high cost of acquiring it. In Nigeria, some customers last year took to social media to complain about their devices being stolen just months after Starlink launched in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, the devices can be stolen and sold in the black market. Starlink should have them fitted with anti-theft features so that even if someone steals them, they can be traced or can\u2019t be used by anyone else,\u201d Mwiti argued.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Sierra-Leone<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. American satellite internet company Starlink, a subsidiary of Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX, has finally announced its entry into the Kenyan market, intensifying competition in the industry. But many are querying its choice of target areas and its high charges. The company had announced in January it was awaiting regulatory approval to roll out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":20421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[291,293,292],"class_list":["post-20422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-sierra-leone","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"\nWho will pay $110 a month in Africa\u2019s rural areas for Starlink internet? - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"American satellite internet company Starlink, a subsidiary of Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX, has finally announced its entry into t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who will pay $110 a month in Africa\u2019s rural areas for Starlink internet?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"American satellite internet company Starlink, a subsidiary of Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX, has finally announced its entry into t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sierra Leone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-24T13:10:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-24T13:21:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/07\/sm_1690192248.212756.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Who will pay $110 a month in Africa\u2019s rural areas for Starlink internet?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-24T13:10:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-24T13:21:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet\"},\"wordCount\":543,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2023\/07\/sm_1690192248.212756.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Sierra-Leone\",\"Sierra-Leone\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/who-will-pay-110-a-month-in-africas-rural-areas-for-starlink-internet\",\"name\":\"Who will pay $110 a month in Africa\u2019s rural areas for Starlink internet? 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