00:00Elon Musk can speed up the internet in Africa.
00:03The South African-born global tech mogul's Starlink satellite constellation
00:08already has a foothold on the continent.
00:12Will Musk's satellites benefit Africa or hold it back?
00:15Welcome to the flip side.
00:17Unlike conventional satellites, those that are owned and operated by Starlink
00:22are much closer to the surface of the Earth.
00:25Hence, they transmit much, much, much faster.
00:28In our own studies as well, we see that if you are looking into parts of Africa,
00:34for example, in Ghana, if you use Starlink,
00:37then your connection is significantly faster than if you were to use terrestrial internet.
00:42Starlink satellites are already hovering over 14 African countries
00:47and 13 more are on their way this year.
00:49Musk has also been courting leaders in Africa for further investment.
00:54He recently met up with the presidents of South Africa and Namibia.
00:58So, better internet access for rural areas.
01:01Sounds good in theory, right?
01:02But what will be the effect on Africa's own internet providers and the telecom sector?
01:08A foreign company coming in, doing the bare minimum,
01:13and then taking market share from other companies that have invested heavily in the continent
01:19and that are also providing jobs for, you know, thousands of people.
01:24Because, you know, Starlink does not invest in infrastructures in Africa.
01:28In fact, they don't really hire people.
01:31The few people that go working for them in Africa,
01:35they are mostly Americans that just come into Africa.
01:38They're not providing local jobs.
01:42You know, they're not building infrastructure.
01:44They're not investing in infrastructure.
01:46A lot of African countries have invested heavily into satellite communication structures.
01:51So, they are hesitant to give out licenses.
01:54Foreign companies have to adhere to local regulations.
01:58Cameroon even banned Starlink.
02:00Like, I know in Nigeria, for example,
02:02the telcos cannot just wake up tomorrow and increase price.
02:05But guess what?
02:06At the beginning of this month,
02:08Starlink woke up and they doubled the price of their services in Nigeria.
02:13Nigeria was the first country in Africa to sign up to Starlink in February 2023.
02:19Today, analysts say the Musk Enterprise is the fourth, or perhaps even the third,
02:24biggest internet provider in the country of more than 200 million people.
02:28And it's on a trajectory that could make it the leader.
02:32But soon enough, this might happen that they monopolize their entire market.
02:40And if you're dependent only on Starlink as your primary network operator,
02:44they might hike up prices.
02:46And right now, even the starting kit to set up Starlink is not affordable to everyone.
02:52The next couple of months will be defining because it's either Starlink is going to win
02:57and probably at some point gain monopoly of the market,
03:02or maybe African governments will start coming up with some regulatory
03:09challenges to ensure that the market is fair for everyone else.
03:12And that's the flip side.
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