The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe POTRAZ) has said Elon Musk hasn’t approached the regulator for licencing Starlink, a SpaceX project providing internet all over the globe.
This comes amid media reports suggesting that Starlink was coming to Zimbabwe at an unspecified time in 2023.
An official at POTRAZ told Pindula News that the regulator has no comment on the case adding that they were only seeing reports in the media. The official spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity:
Starlink has not approached POTRAZ for a licence so we don’t know their intentions yet.
The official then referred this reporter to the Director General of POTRAZ, Dr Gift Kallisto Machengete, for an official response.
We, however, could not get a comment as his phone was not being answered.
Starlink works in the same way as VSAT in that you buy a piece of equipment that faces the sky and connects you to the internet via a satellite above you in space, according to Techzim.
How does it compare to VSAT in Zimbabwe?
Starlink is another satellite-based internet service provider just like Zodsat, Utande, and Telco. The only difference is that all VSAT providers in Zimbabwe are using a 3rd party satellite provider, predominantly Eutelsat and Avanti.
Starlink on the other hand is actually launching its own satellites into space which in essence means they are involved in the process end to end.
Speed
You can get 50 to 250Mbps on Starlink Internet and Starlink RV (Mobile home) and 150 to 500Mbps on Starlink Business with all 3 variants having unlimited internet. The fastest VSAT speed you can get from Zimbabwean providers is 25Mbps with upload speeds going as high as 6Mbps.
Monthly package costs
Starlink Internet is US$110 per month, Starlink RV is US$135 per month and Starlink Business is US$500 per month.
Highest-spec VSAT packages available in Zimbabwe:
- Utande’s 120GB package is US$363;
- Liquid Home’s Unlimited package is US$554;
- TelOne’s Unlimited package (650GB) is US$600;
- Zodsat’s Unlimited package is US$455.
Setup cost
It’s US$599 for Starlink Internet and Starlink RV and US$2 500 for Starlink Business, excluding shipping and duty.
- Utande – US$183 (Equipment hire) US$487 (US$350 equipment only)
- Liquid Home – US$1440
- Telco – US$700 (US$600 equipment only)
- TelOne – US$580 to US$1360
- Zodsat – US$450
When will Starlink be available in Africa?
2023 2024 Unconfirmed launch window Angola (Q2) Botswana Algeria Benin Burkina Faso Chad Burundi Cameroon Central African Republic Congo Cape Verde Djibouti Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Comoros Eritrea eSwatini Egypt Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Equatorial Guinea Kenya (Q2) Ghana Guinea Malawi Guinea-Bissau Lesotho Mauritania Ivory Coast Libya Mauritius Liberia Madagascar Morocco Namibia Mali Mozambique (Q2) São Tomé and Príncipe Niger Nigeria Tunisia Sierra Leone Rwanda Uganda Somalia Senegal South Africa Seychelles South Sudan Somaliland Sudan Tanzania Togo Western Sahara Zambia (Q2)
So what you gonna do about it?
Ask for a fat bribe or delay until such time.
I have sent multiple requests to Potraz, but they have not responded to all my emails.
Starlink will operate like open view, equipment will come through from South Africa and be used i ln Zimbabwe anyhow