Starlink gets green light to launch services in Chad

Details: John Tanner; Category: Satellite Networks; 13 November 2024; 14418 views

LEO satellite operator Starlink says its satellite broadband service is now available in Chad after the government approved its licence to operate in the country.

According to Reuters, Chad's Communications Minister Boukar Michel confirmed on Tuesday that the licence has been approved. The same day, SpaceX president and CEO Elon Musk posted on his social media site X that the Starlink service is now available in the country.

Michel told Reuters that the licence has been in the pipeline since 2021, and that Starlink will be essential to plugging Chad’s fibre-optic coverage gaps, which are substantial. The latest stats from the International Telecommunication Union state that Chad’s fixed-line internet penetration rate stands at just 12.2%, while mobile penetration is just shy of 39%.

According to the Ecofin news agency, Chad’s telecoms sector is prone to breakdowns and service interruptions, having experienced several several Internet outages in this year alone. The outages are often due to network problems outside of the country, as Chad’s international bandwidth comes from a fibre link with neighbouring Cameroon.

The Chad licence expands Starlink’s African customer base to 16 countries, including Burundi, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Botswana, Madagascar, and Sierra Leone, all of which have granted approval to Starlink in the past six months, reports SpaceInAfrica.