Starlink, the internet service from SpaceX is now available in 99 countries—almost everywhere in the world. This report was made public after a successful launch in Fiji, which made it the 99th nation to join Starlink, powered by SpaceX.
Just a day earlier, Starlink launched in Indonesia, one of Asia’s biggest economies. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, hopes to bring quality internet to people in remote areas of Indonesia.
Like Fiji, Indonesia has many islands where reliable internet is a problem, and Starlink aims to fix that.
Speaking of success, Starlink just became the third-biggest internet provider in Nigeria within a year of its launch! Starlink subscribers in Nigeria increased by 113% in just three months.
While Starlink in Nigeria is experiencing impressive growth, several other African countries are doing just the opposite, making it difficult for Starlink to operate.
In Zimbabwe, for example; the government suddenly ordered Starlink to shut down, leaving many users without internet service.
Botswana also banned the import, use, and sale of Starlink entirely. Ghana on the other hand is willing to offer a license, but only after Starlink follows all the rules.
South Africa is another tough spot for Starlink. IT Lec was the only company selling the kits, but they were doing it in a way that wasn’t quite allowed.
ICASA had to step in and tell the company importing Starlink kits to stop operation because Starlink still needs permission to operate officially in South Africa.
While Africa is proving to be a challenge, Starlink is doing great in Southeast Asia. Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines happily use Starlink’s internet service.
Right now, Starlink has nearly 6,000 satellites in orbit, with over 5,200 operational and they are currently providing internet access to over 2.7 million subscribers worldwide.
