By 
Starlink has finally been officially licensed by the Postal Regulatory Authority Of Zimbabwe, Potraz on Thursday, TechnoMag can exclusively review. The international satellite-based company made their licence payment on Thursday to the regulator, effectively kicking off its operations.
This effectively means that Zimbabwe is now the 14th African country to be licensed as Starlink is already rolling out all the technical services including shipping of devices for pre-test launch and direct orders after making the public IPs available.
The new latest version of Starlink devices costs $350 with a monthly costs from $30 or an option of $50 while using standard kit with better coverage and resilience
As at September 2024, African countries where Starlink is operational in 2024
| Rank | Country | Launch date |
| 1 | Nigeria | January, 2023 |
| 2 | Rwanda | February, 2023 |
| 3 | Mozambique | June, 2023 |
| 4 | Kenya | July, 2023 |
| 5 | Malawi | July, 2023 |
| 6 | Benin | November, 2023 |
| 7 | Zambia | November, 2023 |
| 8 | Eswatini | December, 2023 |
| 9 | Sierra Leone | June, 2024 |
| 10 | South Sudan | July, 2024 |
| 11 | Madagascar | July, 2024 |
| 12 | Botswana | August, 2023 |
| 13 | Ghana | August, 2024 |
| 14 | Zimbabwe | September ,2024 |
The satellite map for starlink has effectively indicated that they are now offering the service in Zimbabwe
starlink presence in africa
The Low Earth orbit company which initially wanted the wholesome license for data and direct service provision has reduced its license package to just Internet Service Provision, dropping other essential service provisions like application licence for a lower license band fee.
This means Starlink may not offer services like direct-to-cell services when they finally deliver the product, but for now, they can offer the basic internet connectivity
According to the Postal and Telecommunications (Licensing, Registration and Certification) Regulations, SI , 12 of 2021 a Class A licence is US$5,500,000,00 and an annual fee of US$100, 000, 00 or 2 % of the annual gross turnover whichever is greater, payable monthly in arrears, at the end of the following month, for 12 monthsand a final payment, being balance of 2% of annual gross turnover less monthly payments already made payable within 90 days of financial year end to be authenticated by an audit certificate.
The Class B Internet service provision comes at US$2,750,000,00 once-off payment with other conditions just the same while the Internet Service Provider Licence (National) comes at US$50,000,00
Comments