Africa Mobile Networks (AMN), a British telecom-tower operator that specialises in coverage of rural areas in Africa, has signed a partnership with Starlink, the low earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet provider owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The agreement, signed last week, initially allows AMN to exploit Starlink’s connection capacities in Nigeria – which was the first African country to grant a licence to Starlink. AMN intends to extending the alliance to other countries if this first experiment is successful.
Conversion to 4G
“Low earth orbit satellites offer more bandwidth and gigabytes of data than other solutions at a similar cost, which is important to meet the demands of customers and regulators, i.e., a gradual conversion to 3G and 4G, and eventually 5G,” says Michael Darcy, the British founder and CEO of AMN.
Already present in 13 African countries and Panama, AMN hopes to launch further operations in the Central African Republic, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, South Africa and Uganda. Starlink, meanwhile, announced on 19 July that it was now active in Kenya, but, subject to obtaining licences, its geographical footprint in Africa is currently limited to three other countries on the continent: Nigeria, Mozambique and Rwanda.
Intelsat as a long-standing partner
Historically backed by its shareholders Meta and the European satellite company Intelsat, AMN says its new partnership will not short-circuit the relationship it has cultivated with Intelsat. Intelsat itself does not offer LEO solutions, but it does have a distribution agreement with Amazon-backed Kuiper for solutions from OneWeb, one of Starlink’s main competitors.
Founded in 2013, AMN targets more than 5,000 functioning towers by the end of 2023. The company has simplified its business model, integrating the costs of building, managing and maintaining tower networks in return for a flat fee. It has maintained profitability thanks to cheaper logistics and smaller towers, which are more economical and quicker to install. AMN has raised more than $100m from around 20 investors since it was founded.
Understand Africa's tomorrow... today
We believe that Africa is poorly represented, and badly under-estimated. Beyond the vast opportunity manifest in African markets, we highlight people who make a difference; leaders turning the tide, youth driving change, and an indefatigable business community. That is what we believe will change the continent, and that is what we report on. With hard-hitting investigations, innovative analysis and deep dives into countries and sectors, The Africa Report delivers the insight you need.
