Uganda’s biggest telecom operators are moving quickly to align themselves with Starlink after years of viewing satellite internet providers as potential disruptors to their dominance.
Now, the arrival of Elon Musk’s satellite internet company is triggering a strategic shift across East Africa’s telecom sector, one that could reshape how millions of people in remote areas access mobile and internet services.
MTN Uganda is currently in talks with Starlink about a potential partnership to extend connectivity to hard-to-reach parts of Uganda and Zambia, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
The move comes just days after Ugandan authorities approved Starlink’s entry into the market on May 14, following more than a year of regulatory negotiations and security-related scrutiny.
For telecom operators, the partnership could solve one of the industry’s longest-running problems: how to provide network coverage in remote regions where building traditional telecom infrastructure is often too expensive to justify on commercial grounds.
