NCC engages Musk’s Starlink on cost reduction, service expansion

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has informed of plans to engage Elon Musk’s Starlink on possible cost reduction and service expansion in the country. The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, stated this on the sideline of the eFraud summit in Lagos.
Danbatta said this has become necessary to ensure more access gaps are bridged, which he currently puts at 97, to pave the way for more Nigerians to have access to telephony services in the country.

He said the commission is having deep engagement with Starlink to reduce the cost of its service in the country, adding that making the service affordable will help to close the connectivity gap in the country and make Internet connections accessible to rural and underserved areas.

“We recently issued a license to Starlink. This is a communication service provider that operates all over the country. We are trying to engage them to bring the cost of their services down to affordable levels so people in rural areas can equally benefit from this important information. With time we hope the days of un-connectivity will be over with the satellite provision all over the country,” Danbatta said.

He explained that there are many satellite providers in Nigeria but Starlink stands out in terms of fast service operations.

“We are still looking at the price of the Starlink terminal so all Nigerians will be able to enjoy this service. It is faster than 5G and I think the corporate world is all over the entire country. This is one important measure we have put to address the challenge of the access gap, which is about 97 now. We have not relented in deploying fixed and wireless infrastructure, especially in the rural and underserved areas of the country to bridge the access gap.”