At least two county governments in Kenya have hooked up their ICT infrastructure to billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite services, extending a trend that has seen the multinational stir a craze since its entry into the local market in July last year.
The latest to onboard the service is Nairobi, which publicised the shift on Tuesday, drawing the attention of Musk who reacted with a short “Starlink in Nairobi!” remark in what was seen as an acknowledgement of a special milestone for the firm in Kenya.
According to City Hall’s ICT chief officer Tiras Njoroge, the new installation will serve as a backup link to ensure that essential customer services remain operational during primary network outages.
“We are excited to announce the integration of Starlink satellite technology into our Customer Service Centre, aimed at enhancing and improving service delivery to the residents of Nairobi," said Mr Njoroge.
Nairobi becomes the second devolved government to publicly disclose its subscription to the Starlink Service after Murang’a County Governor Irungu Kang’ata last month said that the internet was offering a more viable solution than traditionally existing provisions.
Dr Kang’ata’s statement came at the height of a protest letter by Kenya’s leading telco Safaricom to the industry regulator seeking a review of the policy to grant licences to independent satellite internet providers in what was widely viewed as an attempt at censorship against the Musk-owned multinational.
In its petition, the market leader argued that indiscriminate permit approvals to such firms could give rise to illegal connections as well as harmful interference to mobile networks.
“Government should ignore Safaricom. Murang’a automated its healthcare. Safaricom's internet speed drops frequently, the speed so low, at times 4.7 Mbps (megabytes per second). New Starlink internet speeds hit 100 Mbps. This saves lives. And it's not affected by weather,” said Dr Kang’ata in an X post.
Since its entry into Kenya in July last year, the Starlink service has stirred the market with official data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) pointing to a growing appetite by users for more personalised attention and quality services.
According to the sector regulator, the number of satellite Internet users grew from just 405 in March last year to 4,808 as of March this year courtesy of Starlink’s entry into the market.
A major win for the firm is in its ability to deliver high-speed Internet with low latency in remote and previously underserved areas, making it the ideal product for Kenya’s rural settings where traditional internet services are limited or unreliable.
The emerging trend has turned up the heat on existing Internet service providers (ISPs) while signaling a new dawn of cheaper connectivity as intensifying competition hands consumers early wins.
According to Rebecca Wanjiku, the chief executive of telecommunication engineering firm Fireside Group, the impact will be felt more by the smaller ISPs whose services are widely seen as affordable and reachable within estates and communities.
“We have spent the last 18 years promoting investments in fiber optics and other wireless technologies. The ISPs within our cities, towns, estates, and communities will be the biggest casualties in this process. The owners are usually local youth who buy the services from bigger ISPs and resell via wireless. They are usually challenged by resources and customer service is not always the best,” wrote Ms Wanjiku in a recent Business Daily commentary.
“With the growth of fiber and other wireless technologies, many people have invested in telecommunications contractor business, and with the self-assembly and minimal support needed, it is unlikely that Starlink will work with local companies to expand the services. These companies must now innovate or be swept off,” she added.
