Elon Musk’s satellite company, Starlink, is working with the e-commerce company Jumia Technologies AG to improve satellite internet services in Africa.
With money from Pernod Ricard SA and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Jumia plans to sell Starlink’s satellite stations and kits in some African countries. Jumia’s Chief Commercial Officer, Hisham El Gabry, says the first start will happen in Nigeria in the coming weeks.
Jumia has a strong position in the market and positions itself as the place to go for people who want to buy these kits.
This sales and distribution exclusivity gives Jumia a competitive edge and may increase its market share and influence in the region.
“Starlink has done these deals in Southeast Asia and South America, and now Africa can get fast internet. He claimed our sites and agents in Nigeria and Kenya will begin selling this month.
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More Insights
Big tech companies have tried different ways to bring high-speed internet to Africa, but they haven’t been successful, so they’ve gone back to traditional fibre and undersea cable systems.
For example, Facebook, working with Meta Platforms Inc., started a project to build a big drone for high-altitude communication on a continent, but it had to stop.
Project Loon, which Alphabet Inc.’s Google ran, used helium-filled planes to do something similar. It stopped two years ago.
Elon Musk’s network of tens of thousands of small satellites that talk to each other through user terminals could connect people in large countries.
The price of a primary Starlink terminal in Nigeria, which is 435,000 naira ($557), could be a problem, though.
“When we started building an African e-commerce business, we had to come up with our business models, transportation network, and even some mapping,”
So, “This gives us the experience we need to navigate the retail and goods market in Africa.”El Gabry says Jumia will sell Starlink’s products in 11 African regions.
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What You Need To Know
Starlink is an internet service that was just started in Nigeria. SpaceX made it to improve internet coverage in rural and hard-to-reach places worldwide.
Starlink satellites are over 60 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites. This means there is less latency and that traditional satellite internet can’t handle some services.
Recent data from the Nigerian Communications Commission shows that only about 47 per cent of the country’s 200 million people have access to the internet. This means that only 140 million people have access to the internet.
Starlink gives people high-speed internet access through satellites in low-earth orbit. These satellites are meant to bring the internet to places that don’t have it.
With this new relationship with Jumia, local ISPs may also be willing to offer their services in places that were too far away or too expensive to reach before.