Elon Musk’s Starlink licensed to operate in Nigeria

Elon Musk, the billionaire tech entrepreneur, has announced that his satellite Internet service, Starlink, has been granted approval to begin operations in Nigeria.

Musk made this known via his Twitter account on Friday, stating that Starlink had been licensed to operate in Nigeria and Mozambique.

“Starlink approved by Nigeria and Mozambique,” he simply wrote.

This was confirmed by the Nigerian Communications Commission in a statement where it was revealed that the service had indeed received two licenses to commence operations in the country, Nairametics reports.

The NCC revealed that the company received “the International Gateway license and Internet Service Provider license, and will be trading as Starlink Internet Services Nigeria Ltd.”

According to the commission, the International Gateway and the ISP licenses have 10-year and 5-year tenure respectively. Both licenses take effect from May 2022 and may be renewed after the expiration.

Musk’s announcement comes days after he assured a Twitter user that the satellite service would spread to Africa soon.

“Starlink will serve everywhere on Earth that we’re legally allowed to serve,” he tweeted on Tuesday.

Launched by SpaceX, Musk’s space exploration company, Starlink provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the globe. It enables video calls, online gaming, streaming, and other high data rate activities.

Starlink has played a significant role in the ongoing war in Ukraine as the billionaire dispatched thousands of satellite stations to the war-torn country in March.