The government of Chad agrees to use Musk’s Starlink to improve internet access

Tuesday, Chad announced that it had given Elon Musk’s satellite internet company Starlink a license to operate in the country. This will make it easier for people in central Africa to connect to the internet.

SpaceX’s satellite business, Starlink, works in some African countries but has had problems with the law and opposition from state telecoms powers in others.

“We have been in touch with Starlink since 2021 and have come to an agreement on the most important things,” Boukar Michel, Chad’s Communications Minister, told Reuters by phone.

According to the most recent data from the World Bank, only 12% of Chad’s people could connect to the internet in 2022.

Michel said, “A lot of our land isn’t covered by fiber optics, and I think that Starlink will help us close this gap.” He also said that better internet access would help Chad digitize public services in remote places and speed up the growth of tech start-ups.

“Starlink now available in Chad!” Musk wrote something on X on Monday. In Africa, the internet service company works in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar, Benin, South Sudan, Eswatini, and Sierra Leone, among other places.

Early this year, Cameroon told ports to take back Starlink equipment that wasn’t approved.

At the same time, Safaricom (SCOM.NR), Kenya’s largest telecoms company, has asked regulators to think about making satellite internet providers like Starlink work with local cell network operators.