Elon Musk’s satellite company, Space X, is expected to commence rolling out its Starlink Internet Service in Nigeria before the end of this year. The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, indicated this at the US-Space Forum held alongside the US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC.

The Nigerian government has entered into a partnership with Space X for the delivery of broadband service across Nigeria. Going by the minister’s declaration, Starlink’s rollout will be coming seven months after the company was issued Internet Service Provider (ISP) licence by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Recall that Space X promised to roll out its satellite broadband ser-vice in Q3’22 to cover the whole of Nigeria but shifted it to Q4, citing regulatory issues.

Pantami confirmed this by saying “the nationwide rollout shall take place before the end of 2022, after the conclusion of a few administrative processes.” Announcing the partnership with Space X, the minister said the Nigerian government has approved the company’s application as a High Throughput Satellite (HTS) Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Operator in the Nigerian Telecommunications Sector. He said: “As part of the partnership, Space X is to provide broadband access across the whole of Nigeria, enabling nationwide access to broadband connectivity way ahead of the December 2025 schedule, as outlined in our National Broadband Plan.”

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