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The intensifying competition between telecoms and Starlink for broadband access marks a new era of connectivity for rural regions, as both strive to bridge Africa’s digital divide.
SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | As Elon Musk’s Starlink continue to cannibalise small internet service providers in major African cities and telcos ramp up plans to expand connectivity out of town, the growing competition is opening up a huge opportunity to fix a wide internet access gap in rural Africa.
According to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, the rising challenge of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity is shifting how incumbent telecomunications companies think about the wider market, prompting them to engage in strategic initiatives to stay competitive.
“The rapid shift in focus by Africa’s telcos can largely be attributed to a confluence of factors, with Starlink being a key driver. These telcos are increasingly seeing unserved and underserved regions of the continent as opportunities rather than investment dead ends,” said GlobalData, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Technology and Services, Ismail Patel.
The latest data shows that Starlink is gaining more subscribers in West and East Africa, doubling its user numbers in Kenya and becoming the second-largest internet service provider (ISP) in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.
According to Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) subscriber statistics, Starlink has grown its user base to 65,564 subscribers as of Q3 2024, racing towards the first position held by Spectranet with a subscriber base of 105,441.
In Kenya, Starlink’s subscriber base has doubled to 16,700 by September 2024 compared to a year earlier, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) data.
While these subscriber numbers are smaller compared to between tens of millions to hundreds of millions controlled by telcos in Africa- they are giving mobile network operators sleepless nights- who are now taking different warpaths.
Players like Kenya’s Safaricom have been on the frontline waging price wars and pushing regulatory punches to protect their subscriber base in major cities including Nairobi, where Starlink is more popular- and where many can afford initial installation costs.
But lately, the battle is building up in rural Africa- where telcos are now merging between themselves and tying up with other satellite internet providers to take advantage of a new user base they never served or they only offer voice and text services.
According to an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report titled ‘Measuring digital development,’ only 23% of people living in rural Africa had access to the internet by the close of 2024.
The global rural access rate is at 48% affirming how rural Africa is lagging in digital inclusion and a huge opportunity that exists for Telcos and Satellite internet providers to fix the divide.
Orange is leading in these rural expansion efforts.
After announcing a partnership with Vodacom to lower the cost of installation of telecom towers in rural Africa to expand network coverage, Orange has announced yet another partnership with Satellite provider, Eutelsat to roll out satellite internet in its Africa markets.
Initially, the satellite internet will be deployed in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to progressively expand to all countries in the region.
“This partnership illustrates our commitment to connecting all territories and bridging the digital divide in Africa and the Middle East,” said Orange Africa and Middle East, Chief Executive Officer, Jérôme Hénique.
Orange operates in 18 countries across Africa and the Middle East and had 160 million customers by the end of September 2024.
The Orange- Eutelsat partnership, the providers said in a joint statement, is based on solutions offering speeds of up to 100 Mbps, which is similar to what Starlink offers in Africa.
“It is part of our strategy to offer our customers the best satellite connectivity solutions in high and low orbit, complementing our terrestrial networks,” said Orange Wholesale Chief Executive Officer, Michael Trabbia in the statement.
Vodacom is also reportedly readying to connect Africans using Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites, following a strategic collaboration announced in September 2023 targeted at offering affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities in Europe and Africa through a constellation of 3 236 satellites in low Earth orbit.
Vodacom with operations in South Africa, the DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania has a customer base of 210 million.
In October 2024, Safaricom said it was exploring how satellite internet works with a local operator, ESD Kenya, to guide its expansion plans and better its future service provision.
MTN is on record saying it’s exploring partnerships with low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite providers to improve internet access in rural and remote areas.
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SOURCE: Conrad Onyango, bird story agency
