Starlink Now Available in Nigeria, First in Africa

Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite-based internet service, has an active presence on the African continent, with the company announcing yesterday that Starlink is now available in Nigeria.

SpaceX tweeted the news yesterday and announced that the Starlink connection to Nigeria has become operational. According to Starlink’s service card, some countries in Africa, such as Zambia, Tanzania and Morocco, are expected to receive services by the end of this year, while others, such as Ghana and Namibia, will not receive Starlink until 2024.

“We did it again. [SpaceX] Thank you for hosting me at your US headquarters in December 2022 to complete the logistics for the deployment,” tweeted Isa Ali Pantami, Nigerian Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.

Starlink’s presence in Africa means SpaceX now has a live connection to every continent on Earth, despite the company announcing the feat last year. “Starlink is now on all seven continents!” the company tweeted on September 14, 2022.

It seems SpaceX celebrated a little too early, as the company only did connect permits Nigeria and Mozambique to Starlink at this time, with the service expected to go live in those countries in between July and September 2022. licensing Connect Malawi would come in November. As for operational Starlink connectivity in these African countries, this clearly did not happen in 2022. As SpaceX tweeted on Monday: “Starlink is now available in Nigeria – the first African country to receive a service!”

SpaceX did not immediately respond to our request for comment. Separately, Starlink is now available in 46 countries and 56 markets around the world, SpaceX announced during the broadcast of Falcon 9’s Starlink launch today.

The announcement comes after the successful launch of SpaceX Providing services to McMurdo Station, a scientific research outpost in Antarctica, this September. Starlink also started earlier this month Connection of remote camps in Antarctica. These connections were made using a laser optical network connecting Starlink satellites. The lasers relay data between satellites in the Starlink constellation, rather than letting them communicate with stations on the ground that have distant parts of connected Canada, Australia and Antarctica to Starlink.

SpaceX continues work to launch a full-fledged Starlink constellation, with 49 satellites deployed today. There are over 3,700 Starlink satellites is currently working in low earth orbit, with SpaceX planning to start a total of 29,988 of its next-generation Starlink satellites.

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