Following the issuance of internet service license to SpaceX, a United States based company and owners of Starlink Internet Services by the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) earlier last year, on January 30, 2023, the foreign investor announced the availability of Starlink (internet) in Nigeria – the first African country to receive the service.
SpaceX, a United States based company that designs, manufactures and launches the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft, but has recently involved internet services using its flagship; Starlink (internet) in Nigeria.
Details from the company business platform in Nigeria showed that Starlink hardware device cost is set at $600 (₦276,000), Monthly subscription at $43 (₦19,780).
Whereas affordability remains an issue, especially in rural areas as gross domestic product per capita of Nigeria as at 2022 is $1,533.9 U.S. dollars, the price may begin to drop as subscription grows.
This may be part of the reason why President Muhammadu Buhari, through his verified Twitter handle, claimed that with the deployment of Starlink in Nigeria, his country has achieved 100 percent broadband penetration.
The President tweeted: “We are delighted that Starlink services have been deployed in Nigeria, making us the first African country — and the only one so far — to enjoy this rollout. With this deployment of Starlink, we now have 100 percent broadband penetration in Nigeria”.
Whereas many analysts have waited anxiously more than one month on the telecoms regulator to either confirm Mr President or put the record straight, nothing is fast coming from NCC after all.
Some industry players, who spoke to our correspondent said Mr President was however, carried away by fact that Starlink relies mainly on satellite which is everywhere you go.
They argued that Mr President failed to consider the cost of living in his country and dollar value to Naira vis-à-vis purchasing power of Nigerians to cough out the bills of Starlink access.
Figures from NCC’s statistics show that as at December 2022, the country’s broadband penetration hovered around 47.36 percent with 90,398,960 subscriptions.
Besides, Mr President may not have understood that broadband penetration is measured by subscriptions and not mere presence of services.
Accordingly, experts say Mr President need to have waited till at least six months’ time when the level of acceptability via subscription of the Starlink internet service in Nigeria to know or say that broadband penetration has risen by a particular percentage rather than jumping to 100% even without anybody subscribing in the first instance.
However, many industry players still wait on NCC for further clarification of the presidential tweet after all.
