Nigeria was the first African country to benefit from Starlink services, on January 30. The company recently signed a partnership with e-commerce company Jumia to accelerate the adoption of its services in Nigeria and other African countries.
Starlink, a satellite internet service from SpaceX, has announced a reduction in the price of its hardware in Nigeria. The cost of the Starlink kit has been reduced by about 21%, from 378,000 naira ($495) to 299,000 naira. The company has promised to provide a partial refund for customers who ordered the kit in the last 30 days before the discount.
This decision by Starlink is the culmination of negotiations initiated last June by Umar Danbatta, executive vice-president of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The initiative is part of the actions undertaken by the regulator to accelerate the adoption of telecommunications services, as well as the achievement of the government’s digital transformation ambitions. The regulator wants to increase broadband penetration to 90% by 2025, and well beyond 50% by the end of 2023, in line with the Nigeria National Broadband Plan (NNBP 2020-2025).
The reduction in hardware prices is expected to drive adoption of Starlink’s services in Nigeria and expand broadband internet coverage in the country. According to the latest NCC statistics, Nigeria has 159 million users of which 86.9 million use broadband.