American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX is in the process of launching a low-earth orbiting (LOE) constellation of satellites to provide low latency, high bandwidths internet service to Nigerians.
This was announced by the National Communications Commission in a statement sighted by Exclusive Africa on Saturday. The SpaceX team had visited the NCC to make a physical presentation of its intentions to the management of NCC after having engaged in a series of virtual correspondence.
The team was led by SpaceX’s Starlink Market Access Director for Africa, Ryan Goodnight and supported by the company’s consultant, Levin Born.
With the coming of Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite based broadband services to Nigeria, Nigerian internet consumers maybe in for a good time.
Speaking after the presentation of the SpaceX team, the Executive Commissioner Technical Services of the NCC, Ubale Maska, who stood in for the Executive Vice Chairman said that NCC will work on the necessary modalities to ensure that the need for a balanced and healthy competition is put in place.
“As the regulator of a highly dynamic sector in Nigeria, the Commission is conscious of the need to ensure that our regulatory actions are anchored on national interest.
“We have listened to your presentation and we will review it vis-à-vis our regulatory direction of ensuring effective and a sustainable telecoms ecosystem where a licensee’s operational model does not dampen healthy competition among other licensees,” Maska told the SpaceX delegation.
What This Means For Nigeria
With the coming of Starlink, it translates to an addition in the number of competition within the broadband space and with increase in competition, consumers can expect better pricing as providers seek to out do each other and gain market share. This at the end of the day, will improve the quality of service since consumers have a plethora of providers to choose from and can opt in for another provider at will if the service provided by a provider isn’t satisfactory.
