Africa: Starlink satellite internet sometimes cheaper than landline connection
In Africa, Starlink can only be used in a few countries. However, it is a serious competitor there in some cases –, at least for landlines.
(Image: GamElon/Shutterstock.com)
The Starlink satellite internet service from the US space company SpaceX is cheaper in several African countries than the services offered by the leading landline internet providers. This was determined by the online magazine Rest of World. In the case of Zimbabwe, Rest of World found a particularly large price difference. Anyone who books an Internet connection with unlimited data volume with the most important provider there has to pay over 600 US dollars per month. In contrast, Starlink's monthly fees there are only around 30 US dollars. However, people in many African countries go online almost exclusively via mobile devices; landlines are much rarer than in Germany, for example.
Established providers are already responding
According to Starlink itself, the service is available in 16 countries on the African continent, in five of which satellite internet is cheaper than the cheapest landline tariff with unlimited data volume, according to Rest of World. The fact that Starlink charges different prices from country to country was also considered – which is equivalent to between 10 and 50 US dollars per month. The acquisition costs required for the Starlink hardware were not considered. The prices for fixed-line Internet are therefore between 10 and 633 US dollars. The established providers have already responded to the competition with price reductions and higher speeds, and the first companies have warned of a growing market share for Starlink.
SpaceX has been building Starlink since 2019 and almost 7,000 satellites now provide fast internet connections on all continents. In the fall, it had already become known that demand in some areas of Africa was so high that new connections could no longer be booked there. One of the main reasons for this is probably the fact that Starlink is significantly cheaper than traditional Internet connections in some areas. At the same time, in Zambia, for example, there are only 0.48 landline internet connections per 100 people, but 99 mobile phone contracts. In Nigeria, the ratio is as high as 0.05 to 102. By comparison, there are 45 landline internet connections and 125 mobile phone contracts for every 100 people in Germany.
(mho)