Starlink Internet has been on the news and on the minds of Kenyans for the past few months. Mainly this has been due to the cost and the convenience of the service. The company has also made some strategic moves to become more attractive to the market. Now, the big question is, how will the Kenyan market be affected by this?
The Kenyan market has been dominated by the giant Telco company Safaricom has the monopoly with up to 90% of the usage credited to their user. The user base ranging from mobile user to Home/Business Fibre subscribers. Other supplier include Airtel, Telecom and other local ISPs.
The competition is bound to be stiff and will continue to be even tougher as the Starlink makes its presence known with impactful solutions. With a well set out infrastructure Starlink is not to be taken lightly. The number of user has in the past few months surged at a very exponential rate, and the growth does not seen to be slowing down.
Strategic Moves by Starlink in Kenya
Since Starlink was piloted in Kenya in July 2023, many people have adopted it as a solution for their businesses and homes. Although the company has seen challenges in other parts of Africa, the reception in Kenya has been tremendous with a very exponent growth.
Like other regions in Africa, the local providers in Kenya seem to be caught in a trance as they are forced to either offer better prices and speeds or lose their market share. In a move to thwart the operations of Starlink in Kenya, Safaricom, a telco company in Kenya has moved to to request that the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) to get Starlink regulated. In other terms, Safaricom wants the tech giant to be limited in operations in Kenya.
This move has been seen by as an hostile move by Safaricom to try to retain its monopoly in the region.
The move comes after Kenyans moved to X, to demand of Elon Musk, the tech company founder to provide better rates and hardware cost. Claiming that the monopoly was limiting their freedom of speech. In a move to address this, Starlink announced a over 50% discounted offer for the hardware and more consumer friendly monthly subscription of KES1500.
Thus, making the price of the hardware drop from 89,000 to 36,599. more than half the price. In the latest news, Starlink has also expressed intention to bring internet direct to mobile phones. Indicating a strategy to further garble the market share.
The company says that the next satellites will be equipped with an eNodeB modem that allows the satellite to act like a cell phone tower in space, enabling phones to connect through regular 4G network. To mobile carriers in Kenya this would mean direct competition.
Why Safaricom Should Stop Complaining Unfair?
The past few days have seen the telco giant on its heels in an attempt to salvage its market share after the apparent lose of market share. In an attempt the company has disbursed a new internet offer pricing plan, in which speeds have been double.
In the leaked letter to CAK, the company is also seen to claim unfair, in an attempt to sway the regulations Authority to back the local telco companies and regulate the satellite internet providerss.
Compared to other ISPs in Kenya Starlink offers networks speeds between 100Mbps to 200Mbps at a the same price they are offering 10-15Mbps. For the company and other ISPs to offer anything close to what is offered by Starlink they would have to offer 10 to 20X the current speed.
To stay afloat the current market, Safaricom and the other companies will have to offer better prices and also get last mile connectivity to remote areas. To remain relevant.
The Starlink Take
Although the local telcos would like to make it seem like an hostile move from Starlink, this is not the case. It is just another prevalent move to maintain monopoly of poor service and exorbitant prices. Starlink is a wake up call that they had not anticipated.
Most companies in Kenya have enjoyed monopoly and non-tech savvy consumer who do not understand value for price. Examining the recent moves by Safaricom, removing reverse-call functionality, Tunukiwa bundles, among other non-consumer friendly policies, is daylight extortion.
Next time you see a Starlink Kit near you, maybe you should consider it.
