How to play Africa’s satellite revolution

It used to be said that you needed to follow the cables to find the internet in Africa. Now, increasingly, it’s a case of following the satellites.

While South Africa is fussing about BEE requirements, a quiet revolution is unfolding overhead as low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite broadband networks – led by Elon Musk’s Starlink – beam high-speed internet across the continent. All the while dodging fibre breaks, 4G congestion, and the infamous trenching delays that can leave clinics and schools waiting for years.

“LEO is not just a tech gimmick,” says Tinashe Hove, a partner at Laurium Capital. “It’s a commercial workhorse for rural clinics, fintechs, and even safari lodges. The big story is not the satellites – it’s who’s using them, where, and why.”

And increasingly, those users are everywhere:

• In Lagos, a Nigerian fintech is using Starlink to keep its point-of-sale systems humming during regular terrestrial outages.
• In Accra, a medical imaging start-up skipped a five-month wait for metro fibre by installing a dish instead.
• In Hwange, Zimbabwe, safari lodges now sell Wi-Fi vouchers to tech-addicted eco-tourists who’ve swapped silence for signal.

LEO satellites orbit at between 550km and 1,200km above Earth – low enough to offer fibre-like latency (about 40ms) but high enough to blanket wide rural areas with minimal ground infrastructure. In contrast to traditional fibre or 4G/5G towers, LEO requires no trenching and zero base stations – just a dish, a view of the sky and a power source.

“Think of it as leapfrog 2.0,” Hove quips. “First we skipped landlines, now we’re skipping towers.”

Starlink is the main retail player on the continent, while UK-based OneWeb focuses on wholesale partnerships with mobile network operators (MNOs). Amazon’s Kuiper system is expected to join the fray in 2025, with backing from Vodacom and MTN.

According to regulatory filings and industry statements, Starlink had more than 330,000 African subscribers by March 2025, with growth rates that would make most ISPs blush:

And it’s not just individual consumers. Zambia is using Starlink to slash border post document-processing times from two hours to 10 minutes. Rwanda’s ministry of education connected 50 rural schools with ~100Mb/s connections in 2023. Malawi is trialling Starlink for rural telemedicine – proving that satellite internet can be more than just Netflix from space.

In major cities, LEO acts as a digital safety net. IT managers in Nairobi or Joburg may not rip out their fibre lines just yet, but they’re adding a Starlink dish to avoid being plunged into the dark when cables are vandalised or power fails.

But beyond the reach of city grids, LEO often leapfrogs traditional options entirely.

“In South Africa, we obsess about 5G, but for much of rural Africa, even 2G is patchy,” says Hove. “LEO doesn’t need a mast. It just needs sky.”

He adds that the economics of rural connectivity are increasingly tilted towards LEO. “It costs up to $150,000 to install a microwave back-haul link for a remote tower,” he says. “A shared satellite terminal costs a third of that and has lower running costs. For MNOs, it’s not just about coverage – it’s about margin.”

‘ISPs won’t lose sleep’

Will LEO cannibalise fibre and 4G?

Probably not – at least not in the cities. LEO sits in a pricing bracket above traditional broadband. Where Lagos fibre might cost just US2c-US5c per gigabyte, Starlink hovers between $0.70 and $1.20. Equipment costs also skew high: $350-$600 for a dish kit versus $60 for a fibre modem.

“Urban ISPs won’t lose sleep,” Hove explains. “But in areas where customers are already paying through the nose for patchy 4G, LEO is very competitive.”

For investors in listed African telcos like MTN, Airtel Africa and Safaricom, the message is mixed. LEO may erode some rural average revenue per user, especially in low-density, high-value zones. But it also offers a cheaper back-haul alternative and a chance to bundle premium packages.

“Watch how telcos respond,” says Hove. “Safaricom is already bundling fibre and 5G FWA [fixed wireless access]. If they toss LEO into the mix, customer churn could drop below 1% a month.”

The economics of launching satellites are improving fast. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 now sends payloads up for under $3,000/kg – a far cry from the $54,000/kg cost of NASA’s shuttle era. Amazon has booked 19 Kuiper launches by 2027, and Airbus is refreshing OneWeb’s satellite fleet.

Lower launch costs mean cheaper terminals, broader coverage and – eventually – lower consumer prices. Analysts expect LEO broadband tariffs to fall to about $40/month by 2027, potentially unlocking mass-market uptake in East and West Africa.

But not everything is smooth orbiting. Regulators are tightening rules on orbital debris and spectrum sharing. Kenya’s Civil Aviation Authority, for instance, now demands proof of collision-avoidance tech before landing gear can touch tarmac.

“These regulations are necessary,” Hove notes. “They’ll slow the cowboys and favour the incumbents. Ironically, a more crowded sky might actually protect the first movers.”

LEO broadband is no longer just the preserve of tech bros and doomsday preppers. From remote border posts to high-end lodges, from fintechs in Nigeria to radiologists in Malawi, satellite internet is showing its real-world utility – quietly, affordably and with a clear line of sight.

So the next time your fibre cuts out during a Zoom call, just remember: in some parts of Africa, the sky is the limit.