“Elon Musk’s SpaceX aerospace company has applied for a licence from Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) amid plans to offer high-speed internet to the country via satellite,” Africa Business Insider reports.
The news was first reported by Nairametrics on the 8th of May 2021, saying that SpaceX is working to pursue all necessary licenses needed to bring the Starlink Satellite internet services to Nigeria.
Starlink is an internet service launched by SpaceX to improve internet coverage in rural and underserved areas globally. Starlink satellites are over 60 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites, resulting in lower latency and the ability to support services typically not possible with traditional satellite internet. The company’s capital-intensive project aiming to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites designed to deliver high-speed internet to Nigerians.
This application for a telecommunications licence was disclosed by Mr Ryan Goodnight, SpaceX’s Starlink Market Access Director for Africa, in a meeting with NCC’s Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, on Friday, May 7th, at Abuja.
Ryan confirmed that SpaceX is seeking a licence for its Starlink startup, and the company’s objective is to leverage an extensive network of hundreds of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites to all corners of the world, with Nigeria identified as a critical market in Africa.
Ryan also disclosed that SpaceX has been in discussion with NCC virtually over the past several months to begin the process of pursuing all necessary licences to bring Starlink, its satellite-based broadband services, to Nigeria.
He added that the commission granted SpaceX’s request for a face-to-face discussion to understand the prospects better.
According to Africa Business Insider, SpaceX’s application has garnered some supportive submissions to the regulator after providing an overview of their plans, expectations, licensing requests and deployment phases. The NCC, however, noted the need to ensure healthy competition with other players in the telecoms space, especially with the introduction of new technologies.
NCC said in a statement, “We have listened to your presentation, and we will review it vis-à-vis our regulatory direction of ensuring effective and a sustainable telecoms ecosystem where a licensee’s operational model does not dampen healthy competition among other licensees.
The NCC further stated its interest in making necessary regulatory efforts to drive the broadband penetration of 70%, which covers 90% of the population in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025. This is also in line with its National Digital Economic Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2010-2030.
