(3 Minutes Read)
Kenya’s biggest telecoms company Safaricom calls on regulators to put measures in place requiring satellite providers to operate as “infrastructure providers” to mobile network operators.
Kenya’s biggest telecoms company Safaricom calls on regulators to put measures in place requiring satellite providers to operate as “infrastructure providers” to mobile network operators. Safaricom has urged regulators to consider requiring satellite internet providers such as Elon Musk’s Starlink to partner with local mobile network operators.
Starlink, a unit of SpaceX, operates in several African countries but has faced regulatory challenges registering in others. Starlink has been operational in Kenya from July 2023. The company has since rolled out increasingly competitive pricing options and plans that allow Kenyans to rent the required hardware rather than having to purchase it for more than $350.
Safaricom, which is owned by the Kenyan government, Britain’s Vodafone and South Africa’s Vodacom wrote to the Communications Authority of Kenya’s director-general last month to express concerns about the granting of independent licenses to satellite internet providers.
Satellite coverage inherently spans 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, the letter said. It called on the Communications Authority to consider requiring satellite providers to operate as “infrastructure providers” to mobile network operators like Safaricom. It said this would ensure providers invest in Kenya, employ local people, and comply with Kenya laws.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/safaricom-gets-gsma-recertification-on-m-pesa/
Starlink operates in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar, Benin, South Sudan, Eswatini and Sierra Leone. Earlier this year, Cameroon ordered the seizure of Starlink equipment at ports as the provider was not licensed.
