Ghana is the latest country in Africa to warn against using Starlink before it issues licenses for SpaceX’s satellite broadband service.

The National Communications Authority (NCA), Ghana’s telecoms regulator, cautioned the general public Dec. 7 against using services purported to be from Starlink following reports of equipment being sold and operated in the country.

“We wish to inform the general public that, the NCA has neither licensed the operations of Starlink in Ghana nor type-approved any of their equipment,” the NCA said in a news release.

While SpaceX only expects to launch Starlink commercially in Ghana in the third quarter of 2024, the company’s sprawling low Earth orbit network already covers the country and others that have yet to permit the services.

Regulators in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Senegal have recently issued similar warnings to the public and Starlink resellers operating without permission.

It seems like third-parties are buying Starlink terminals and reselling them in regions where Starlink service is not yet available. Does this even work? I was under the impression that Starlink terminals were geo-locked to a specific region/cell. Is this no longer the case?

I’m also slightly confused at this section:

Those providing Starlink services in South Africa without permission could face a fine of around $264,000 or 10% of their annual turnover for every day the offense continued, whichever is greater, the regulator warned.

Who would receive the fine? SpaceX for providing service where they weren’t supposed to, or the Starlink terminal resellers for selling hardware where they weren’t supposed to?

  • @[email protected]English
    11•6 months ago

    Africa will be a huge market for Starlink I think.

    Regarding the fee, probably the seller concerning the sale of the terminal. But Starlink would have to provide a contract, so they could be liable as well. Depends who the contract party is - in this case I suppose it is an abroad address. That should be easy to fix for Starlink by geoblocking for now

    I guess the reason it works at all right now is due to RV type mobile contracts

    • @[email protected]English
      6•6 months ago

      Why would Africa be a huge market for Starlink specifically? All of the people who can afford it live in cities that have perfectly good internet. This article is about Ghana specifically, which has excellent internet in the cities.

      As for rural areas, sure the internet sucks or isn’t available at all. But not many people live there and they don’t have the money to spend it on something expensive like Starlink. But that’s the same all across the world, not just Africa. And in most rural areas mobile phones are becoming the main source of internet for most people. It isn’t the fastest, but it works plenty fast enough for things like WhatsApp groups and other social media.

      So what makes you think Africa would be a huge market, compared to other places?

      • @[email protected]English
        12•6 months ago

        All of the people who can afford it live in cities that have perfectly good internet.

        I think this generalization is far from valid

        • You’re assuming US prices, Starlink can go cheaper and they have shown they will do market specific pricing
        • South Africa is one example where there are plenty of areas outside big cities where people could afford it
        • Starlink doesn’t have to be ordered by individuals. Smaller rural communities could have a shared terminal

        This is assuming it’s not cheaper/faster to just use mobile service, which has had great adoption in Africa and will probably be true in a lot of areas as you noted. Still, there’s a ton of people in Africa and a lot of area to cover. I think there is a good market there for Starlink

      • @tiny_electronEnglish
        4•6 months ago

        I think it is about infrastructure, there is plenty to build but Starlink can be an easy solution to avoid building too much. Rural areas won’t always be poor

      • @[email protected]English
        2•6 months ago

        It would make sense for SpaceX to offer lower prices for Africa for example.

        They already cover the area, and it will be close to free to provide Internet there - they don’t need any extra fuel for station-keeping, power comes from the sun anyway, they’re not using bandwidth they could otherwise sell to richer customers. Maybe ground station use will cost a bit.

        If it’s even mildly affordable, communities will come together to buy a terminal they can share. If you don’t have terrestrial connections, Starlink will be far more economical than conventional satellite Internet.

        Plus they can sell internet to companies doing mineral exploration. That should bring boatloads of money.

        I’m already seeing people whose jobs takes them out and about a lot starting to use Starlink as an integral part of their job.

      • @[email protected]English
        2•6 months ago

        Rural would be huge all the same. Certainly few people will get it individually but it will be common for multiple people to get together and share along with cafes etc.