Starlink Nigeria has commenced operation , as Nigerians who pre-ordered the Company’s hardware have been receiving their orders and enjoying high –speed internet via satellite.
However, Nairametrics can confirm that the service is available to only thos who have Dollar Cards to make payments for the hardware online.
This means that many Nigerians who want the service will not be able to purchase its hardware, let alone subscribe until the Company establishes the physical presence in the country and starts accepting the Naira for payments.
Besides the Hardware , which costs$600,000, subscriptions for the service costs$43,000 a month according to the information provided by Starlink.
Supervision of virtual / Bank Cards:
While it would have been easier for many Nigerians to purchase Starlink via the use of virtual Dollar Cards, the suspension of the service by providers such as Flutterware and Eversend has made it difficult .
Many Nigerians have also suspended international transactions on Naira ATM Cards, even though the daily limit on international transactions before the suspension was $20 a day.
With these developments, only Nigerians that have Dollar Cards can order Starlink hardware for now.
Starlink Internet Speed
According to an Abeokuta based , Bello Gbadebo, who pre-ordered Starlink hardware in October last year and received it in December,2022, he got about 20Mbps on the initial test and it went up to about 240 Mbps afterwards.
Sharing his experience on Twitter he said:
- I’m testing from Abeokuta, Ogun State , where I’ve struggled greatly with Subpar Internet. Even hubs here don’t have the internet bit figured out yet, so, it’s a big deal to me that I’m able to get above 299Mbps.
Starlink is expected to compete with the likes of MTN, Airtel, Globacom, 9Mobile and hundreds of Internet Service Providers in Nigeria providing services through different technology including Fibre and Satellite .
However, with its hardware cost currently fixed at $600(about N438.000 at the parallel market rate),it is not clear if Starlink will be able to challenge the incumbent who currently offer lower cost of set up.
- With the role out of 5G by MTN and the award of 5G license to Mafab Communications and Airtel, who are expected to also roll out the service any moment from now, competition based on speed will be very stiff for Starlink.
- In terms of subscription, at $43(about N31,000), Starlink is still within the range being charged by other ISPs in Nigeria.
- Starlink most competitive edge in Nigeria will be its availability in rural and unserviced areas where the services of the incumbent operators are either poor or not available. But pricing is a factor . It is not clear yet , if Starlink will eventually slash its costs to become more competitive in the market.
(Nairametric)