Starlink and Paratus have signed a reseller agreement where Paratus has agreed to distribute the services of Starlink across Africa. Initially, the Starlink services will be available in Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Nigeria. Paratus will provide the services in these countries with immediate effect, according to a Broadcast Pro report. Paratus already has business reach and its own distribution channel in Africa, and that is why this deal will help Starlink reach more places faster and at a reduced cost.
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Starlink's tech is pretty simple for consumers to understand and it has easy-to-install hardware which will also be a plus point for Paratus when it tries to sell it. In countries such as Africa, where there's a huge digital divide (meaning where mobile networks don't reach everywhere), satellite internet will be a game changer. Paratus will be able to provide its customers with mobility, fixed, and maritime services of Starlink with immediate effect.
The only question is how many consumers would turn up to pay for Starlink's services. While satellite broadband is a lucrative tech for people who live in dark connectivity regions, it is quite expensive. Mostly, in developing countries, services of Starlink would likely be adopted first by the enterprises majorly. Because for normal consumers, paying such a high amount for day-to-day internet usage is not feasible.
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Regardless, this is a huge push for Africa, a continent that doesn't yet have a great digital infrastructure everywhere around. The price for Starlink internet services would definitely go down as the scale of customers that the company is serving increases. Initially, it would be on the governments of the different countries to offer incentives and subsidies on the purchase of Starlink equipment and its services for pushing digital connectivity.
