Elon Musk's Starlink gets license in Zambia

Elon Musk's satellite connectivity company, Starlink, has been awarded an operating license in Zambia.

The license comes after the company conducted tests across nine provinces, which enabled the firm to launch its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites in the Southern African country.

According to The SMART Zambia Institute's national coordinator, Percy Chinyama, Starlink's LEO satellite services are expected to extend broadband connectivity to disadvantaged users in remote parts of Zambia.

The landlocked country's government has been working toward connecting its citizens and recently signed an agreement with Liquid Intelligent Technologies to provide Internet services to secondary schools.

That partnership saw the company committing to build a data center intended to respond to increasing data-hosting needs from local businesses.

In August 2022, The Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority's (ZICTA) also updated its roadmap for the issue of spectrum in the 700MHz, 2600MHz and 26GHz bands.

Starlink growing its African footprint

Zambia joins the ranks of African nations benefiting from Starlink's satellite-based Internet.

On the continent, Starlink is already available in Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, and the French department islands of Reunion and Mayotte off the African coast.

Back in May 2022, South African-born SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed via Twitter that his company had been given regulatory approval in Nigeria and Mozambique.

The satellite connectivity firm then went live in Nigeria in January 2023, making it the first African country to launch Startlink. Nigeria was followed by Rwanda in February 2023. Just last week, Musk's firm officially went live in Mozambique.

There are other southern African countries that are scheduled to have Starlink services soon. According to Starlink's website, Botswana and Malawi are planned to start in Q3 of 2023. Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Angola are scheduled for Q4 2023 start dates.

However, it is unknown when Musk's services will reach South Africa. In April 2023, the country's minister of communications and digital technologies, Mondli Gungubele, denied claims that the government was blocking Starlink from operating in the country. He said Starlink had not applied for a license to operate in South Africa.

Starlink reached 1 million subscribers in December 2022 and has launched a constellation of nearly 4,000 satellites.

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— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa