Affordable Starlink Prices Coming to Low and Middle-Income Countries

SpaceX first departed from its uniform Starlink pricing policy when it offered a reduced price for throttled service in France two years ago. Since then, many new, higher-capacity satellites have been launched, enabling SpaceX to reduce prices in low and middle-income countries, like Kenya.

Starlink (≥ 100 Mbps) satellite Internet growth (source)

Kenya had 405 geostationary satellite internet subscribers when Starlink became available in July 2023. By March 2024 there were 4,808 satellite Internet users, according to data from Kenya’s Communications Authority.  

The price and offering have changed. Initially, the hardware, including shipping and handling, was KES92,100 ($715) and the monthly service was KES6,500 ($50). 

Today, the service price is the same for uncapped access today, but the hardware cost is down to KES45,500 ($353) and they offer a hardware rental plan for KES1,950 ($15)/month. 

Starlink's unlimited data plan will appeal to affluent consumers and organizations like schools and businesses. It might also appeal to people who live close enough to each other to share a single account although that must be a violation of Starlink's contract.

Starlink also has a new affordable plan with 50GB of data for KES1,300 ($10) plus KES20/GB ($0.16) for overage data. The affordable plan is a strong competitor for Airtel and Safaricom, which combined have 95.2 % of the Kenyan mobile broadband market and offer fixed connectivity in limited areas. (I wonder how much "mobile" data is consumed by users on computers connected to mobile hotspots at home).

Starlink has a speed advantage over Airtel and Safaricom and serves areas with low population density they do not reach. (As of this writing, Starlink is at full capacity in Nairobi). Despite reduced prices, Starlink's equipment cost is too high for many Kenyans, hence the hardware rental plan. 

Poa! Internet is another competitor. Poa! offers unlimited 5 Mb/s fixed connectivity for only KES1,575 ($12) /month with an installation fee of KES2,500 ($19.40). At 5 Mb/s it is slower than the others, but fast enough for most Internet applications. For example, Netflix says it is sufficient to stream 1080p HD video. (For many applications, latency is more important than speed).

Poa! Internet customers average about 200 GB/month but unlimited Starlink customers consume much more than that since they can support multiple users online simultaneously. (I have streamed four Netflix videos simultaneously on a ship off the coast of North Africa). A Starlink user in Kenya told me he had been using "multiple terabytes a month" and market tests at a large Kenyan ISP estimated the Starlink consumption would be over 2 TB/month.

Steve Song has pointed out ways Starlink contributes to inequality in Africa. Still, it is also bringing the  Internet to users and organizations that did not have access previously and putting pressure on legacy ISPs to compete. (Starlink is partially responsible for recent expansion by existing companies like Airtel and Safaricom). 

Starlink has demonstrated a willingness to adapt in Kenya as they did in France two years ago and we can look forward to ongoing improvement as new, higher capacity satellites are launched on improved rockets and the African ground infrastructure improves. We can also look forward to competition from other satellite ISPs like Amazon and Quianfan. It will be interesting to see the Kenyan Internet in ten years.

Update 9/16/2024

Suspected Kenyan Starlink gateways (source)

I've been told that Starlink latency from Nairobi to a Netflix node in Lagos is about 50ms because there is a gateway in Nigeria, but latency to a Kenyan banking site is 400ms or more because it requires transit over Africa's terrestrial infrastructure. 

Since Starlink's only African gateway is in Nigeria, my guess is that latency to Europe or even the US is somewhere between those two because undersea cables land in Nigeria.

A gateway in Nairobi would improve latency in Kenya and the East in general.

Update 10/23/2024

In the three months between March and June, the number of Starlink subscriptions in Kenya grew from 4,808 to 8,324 (73%). While the number of subscribers is still small, there is certainly a market for LEO satellite connectivity in Kenya. 

Starlink is growing rapidly but only accounts for only .5% of the market; but as Peter Ndegwa, CEO of Kenya's largest phone company has said “From a satellite perspective, we have to partner with Starlink or other satellite providers to ensure that technology plays right through” and they are in talks with Starlink and other satellite providers on potential future partnerships,