Starlink: Understanding satellite internet and why it is causing jitters in Kenya

Within 18 months of entering the Kenyan market, American tech titan Elon Musk’s satellite internet firm Starlink has disrupted the network market, wooing customers with sweeter and sweeter bargains and better speeds.

Kenyans are taking note, getting excited and buying Starlink; traditional internet service providers (ISPs) are paying attention, too. But some are jittery.

The world’s richest man launched Starlink in Kenya in July 2023. The internet provider is a subsidiary of Musk’s spacecraft corporation SpaceX and seeks to take on local existing players such as Safaricom, Telkom, Faiba and Zuku, who use fibre-optic technology.

Satellite internet is powered by satellites in space that orbit around the Earth and transmit signals to an internet service provider, then to the internet modem at home or office.

A satellite dish is installed at a strategic point of the premises to receive the signal from space and then a Wi-Fi router is used to provide internet connectivity to phones, computers and other devices.

Satellite internet comes in handy in rural areas where broadband internet options such as cable or fibre optic are not available.

Starlink says it has launched more than 3,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit since it began launching satellites in 2019.

The company says it is capable of delivering speeds of over 150Mbps to any place on the planet, as long as its satellite dish has a clear view of the sky.

In contrast, some local providers like Safaricom started rolling out 5G in 2022 with a promise of delivering speeds of up to 100Mbps, but the coverage is still scarce and few people have 5G routers.

Starlink launched in Kenya in July 2023 and has increasingly offered competitively priced internet packages and better speed.

But its hardware cost is what has kept off many potential buyers.

Initially, the Starlink kit cost Ksh.74,000, but the price went down as they began being sold at retail chain stores like Carrefour and online marketplaces like Jumia.

Earlier this year, the company announced an offer to reduce the hardware costs to as low as Ksh.39,500 and last month, it gave another deal, selling the kit from Ksh.29,000.

And just last month, the satellite ISP introduced a kit rental option in Kenya which will see customers pay a one-time activation fee of Ksh.2,700.

One will then pay a monthly hardware rental fee of Ksh.1,950, while the service plans start at Ksh.1,300 a month for a 50 GB monthly data plan. Customers still get the same internet speeds of up to 200Mbps.

In comparison, Airtel charges Ksh.3,000 shillings for a 50 GB monthly package while Safaricom’s 45GB monthly plan goes for Ksh.2,500.

Recently, Safaricom wrote to the Kenyan government asking it to re-evaluate its decision to grant licences to satellite internet providers.

The company, which dominates the local fixed broadband internet market (36.7%), wants the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) to review its decision to grant independent licences to satellite service providers, warning of threats of illegal connections and what it calls harmful interference to mobile network operators (MNOs). 

“We propose that the CA instead consider mandating the satellite service providers to only operate in Kenya subject to such providers establishing an agreement with an existing local licensee,” Safaricom tells CA Chief Executive Officer David Mugonyi.

“Co-existence with mobile networks will not be possible and in the absence of effective management and co-ordination, satellite provided service will cause interference to mobile networks, which will ultimately adversely affect end users and related socio-economic benefits,” Waithaka said in the letter dated July 5, 2024.

According to CA data, JTL follows Safaricom with a 22.6 per cent market share, then Zuku (18.8%) and Poa Internet (13%).

It is worth noting that while its entry into Kenya has caught customers’ attention the most, Starlink is not the only satellite service provider operating in the country.

Others are Vizocom, Skynet by Telkom, NTvsat, and Viasat, among others. Safaricom itself last year said it was working towards introducing satellite internet services.

While there are no official figures on Starlink's uptake in the country, CA data shows that Kenya's number of satellite internet users rose from 1,354 in the three months to September 2023, to 2,933 in the quarter ended December 2023. Going by the frenzy Starlink's offers have been causing among Kenyans online, the figures have certainly gone up this year.

Some of the other countries Starlink operates in are Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.

In others, however, it has faced hurdles such as in Cameroon which ordered its equipment seized at ports as Starlink was not licensed.