Kenyan telco Safaricom has reportedly written a letter to the Communications Authority of Kenya complaining that LEO satellite operator Starlink is a threat to the telecoms market and should be required to partner with local operators rather than compete with them.
Starlink began commercial operations in Kenya in July 2023, but initially the service was expensive compared to other internet connectivity services. At the time, Starlink charged KES89,000 (around US$691) for the terminal kit and KES6,500 a month.
Since then, prices have come down, with the terminals now costing KES45,500, and data packages as low as KES1,300 per month. Last week, Starlink introduces a rental option for the kits, in which subscribers pay KES1,950 per month plus a KES2,700 activation fee.
According to the Ecofin news agency, Starlink is growing in popularity as it becomes more affordable – and that apparently has Safaricom worried.
“Satellite coverage inherently extends to multiple territorial borders and, in doing so, has the potential to illegally provide services and cause harmful interference within the territorial borders of the Republic of Kenya,” Safaricom said in its letter to the CA.
Safaricom added that requiring satellite internet service providers to partner with local mobile operators, rather than giving them independent operating licenses, would “promote innovation while avoiding potential damage”, the report said.
However, some industry observers and consumers have argued that Starlink brings needed competition to Kenya’s internet sector that will drive ISPs to innovate and improve QoS.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Irungu Kang’ata, Governor of Murang’a County, said that the CA “should ignore Safaricom”, claiming that Starlink’s internet speeds reach 100 Mbps, while Safaricom’s download speeds can drop as low as 4.7 Mbps.
According to Ookla, Kenya’s overall mobile internet speeds rank 85th worldwide with median download speeds of 28.62 Mbps as of July 2024. Fixed broadband speeds rank 151st at a median of 11.78 Mbps.
That said, Kenya is one of several African countries whose internet performance has been hampered for much of this year by damage to subsea cables – which has in turn highlighted the advantage of using satellite broadband services like Starlink.
Safaricom also has more to lose as the current leader in Kenya’s mobile internet market. According to the latest CA data (March 2024), Safaricom currently leads the mobile internet market with a 63.5% market share at the end of March 2024. It also holds 37.4% of the fixed internet segment.
