WASHINGTON: Elon Musk announced on Sunday that his Starlink satellite internet service had been granted a licence in Somalia.
Starlink´s network of low Earth orbit satellites can provide internet to remote locations or areas that have had normal communications infrastructure disabled. Roughly 30 percent of Somalia´s population has access to the internet, according to the World Bank in 2022, but regular connectivity is frequently stymied by the east African country´s poor infrastructure.
“Today is another historic day for Somalia´s communications and technology sectors, today we have issued here and provided Starlink, one of the major satellite telecommunications and internet services company the license to operate in Somalia,” a post on state media outlet SONNA said.