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Finally, NCC includes Elon Musk’s Starlink on Nigeria’s ISP list

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Elon Musk's Starlink to compete against MTN, Glo in Nigeria by 2022

Starlink, an internet service company owned by world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has finally been added to the list of approved Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Nigeria.

Musk’s internet service was listed among the approved list four months after the billionaire announced to his 200 million followers on Twitter that the Nigerian government had approved the operation of Starlink.

Recall SpaceX representatives had met with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) representatives in May 2021 to discuss operational license with the Nigerian telecommunications regulator.

Starlink was included alongside 37 other Internet Service Providers on Wednesday, increasing the number of ISPs issued license to operate in Nigeria to 255 as of September 2022, up from the 187 reported in December 2021.

While the number of ISPs continue to rise, the linternet subscription market is dominated by Mobile Network Operators (MNO), MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Glo, and 9mobile.

Other ISPs have been struggling against the telecom giants, but the entry of Starlink into the data subscription market poses new challenge for MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Glo and 9mobile, due to the deep pocket Musk’s company comes with.

Read also: Elon Musk says Starlink to help reduce poverty in Nigeria, others

Unlike other ISPs that will depend on the existing bandwidth capacity in the country, Starlink owns 3,000 satellites through SpaceX, and is already providing internet service to about 40 countries, with only about 500,000 subscribers accessing the infrastructure globally.

MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Glo and 9mobile are competing with cheaper data offers, which other smaller ISPs find impossible to compete against, but with Elon Musk ready to spend between $20 billion and $30 billion, according to his statement in June 2021, to provide cheaper data, Starlink is bringing the fight to the Mobile Network Operators.

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