Elon Musk’s Starlink began offering its high-speed internet service in Zimbabwe, four months after it was granted licensing approval by authorities.
Zimbabwe becomes the 16th nation across Africa to have access to the high-speed internet service, according to a map published on Starlink’s website. The company started providing internet services to neighbouring Botswana last month, and is in talks with South African authorities for a similar offering.
The Starlink kit retails for $350 in Zimbabwe and residential users will pay a monthly $50 subscription. The licensing of the SpaceX-linked company in May resulted in internet service providers in Zimbabwe slashing their prices in a bid to retain customers and fend off the US company’s looming entry into the domestic market.
Other local service providers including Dandemutande Investments said they were partnering with Starlink as an authorized reseller.
“We will be providing an end-to-end service from installation, customer services to subscriptions as part of our offering,” Dandemutande Chief Executive Officer Never Ncube said by email.
Starlink — which serves more than 2.6 million customers globally — delivers broadband internet beamed down from a constellation of 5,500 satellites that SpaceX began deploying in 2019.
