• Bharti Airtel has already struck a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to offer its Starlink satellite broadband services to customers in India
• Now Airtel Africa, which is majority owned by Bharti, has also struck a deal with SpaceX that covers 14 countries
• SpaceX has already secured licences to deliver Starlink services in nine of the 14 African countries

There are plenty of big names now competing in the global low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications services sector, but Elon Musk’s SpaceX is leading the pack as it sells its services direct to customers around the world and strikes channel deals with resellers including telcos, the latest of which is regional network operator Airtel Africa. 

The African telco, which offers its mobile and financial services in 14 markets across the continent, is majority owned by Bharti Airtel (the second-largest telco in India) which, along with its main domestic competitor Reliance Jio, has already struck a deal with SpaceX to offer Starlink satellite broadband services across the world’s most populated country – see India’s Airtel strikes satellite broadband deal with Starlink.

Now Bharti Airtel’s African subsidiary has also struck a deal with SpaceX to take Starlink’s connectivity services to more than 163 million customers in 14 markets across the continent – Nigeria (its biggest market), Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Republic of the Congo and the Seychelles. 

According to the operator, SpaceX has secured the relevant licences in nine of the 14 countries, while the licence application processes for the remaining five countries are under way.

“With this collaboration, Airtel Africa will further enhance its next-generation satellite connectivity offerings and augment connectivity for enterprises, businesses and socioeconomic communities like schools, health centres in even the most rural parts of Africa,” stated the operator. “Airtel Africa will also explore rural coverage expansion through cellular backhauling,” it added. 

Sunil Taldar, Airtel Africa managing director and CEO, stated: “We remain deeply committed to our vision to enrich the lives of [the] people of Africa. This partnership with SpaceX is a significant step to demonstrate our continued commitment to advancing Africa’s digital economy through strategic investments and partnerships. Next-generation satellite connectivity will ensure that every individual, business and community have reliable and affordable voice and data connectivity, even in the most remote and currently underserved parts of Africa.” 

Chad Gibbs, SpaceX’s VP of Starlink business operations, added: “We’re very excited to work with Airtel Africa to bring the transformative benefits of Starlink to the African people in new and innovative ways. Starlink is available in more than 20 African markets, and this agreement with Airtel highlights how, once licensed, Starlink welcomes the opportunity to join forces with important industry leaders to ensure as many people as possible can benefit from Starlink’s presence. The team at Airtel Africa has played a pivotal role in Africa’s telecom story, so working with them to complement our direct offering across Africa makes great sense for our business.” 

SpaceX will be seeking to pin down as many operator agreements as it can before the likes of AST SpaceMobile, which is working closely with Vodafone Group (another telco with a major presence in Africa), Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which has just launched its first LEO satellites into orbit, Telesat Lightspeed and Eutelsat/OneWeb become greater competitive threats. 

According to ABI Research, the total number of active LEO and very low-earth orbit (VLEO) satellites in operational orbit will reach about 42,600 by 2032, a massive leap from the 7,473 that were in orbit at the end of 2023. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV