Elon Musk Announces His Starlink Network Is Coming To Nigeria

On Friday, the federal government of Nigeria granted world’s richest man Elon Musk permission to launch his Starlink network in the country.

The SpaceX founder will now have to compete with companies such as MTN and Airtel, along with a number of other companies, for a share of Nigeria’s enormous telecommunications market.

The announcement made by the billionaire revealed that his company had finally been granted permission to conduct business in Nigeria by the Federal government after months of back-and-forth negotiations.

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that is operated by SpaceX. It provides coverage for satellite Internet access to 32 countries that have licensed its use.

It is possible to argue that Nigerians will not only enjoy a high-speed network, but also one with low-latency broadband that has been optimized to process a very high volume of data with a minimal delay. This is because the network will be optimized to process a large amount of data in a short amount of time.

Nairametrics was able to confirm with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that Starlink, a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, has been granted a license by the Nigerian government.

This licensing came about as a result of a trip that a team from the company took to Nigeria in May of the previous year.

The NCC reveals that the International Gateway license is valid for a period of 10 years, whereas the ISP license is valid for a period of 5 years. Both licenses take effect from May 2022 and may be renewed after the expiration.