Elon Musk’s Starlink to battle MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9mobile, ISPs for internet users in Nigeria

The entry of Elon Musk’s Starlink into the Nigerian telecoms market is set to drive a new wave of competition among the telecommunications service providers in the country.

The new entrant will have to battle for customers who are currently subscribing to internet service from MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile, and over 200 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) earlier licensed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Nairametrics reported yesterday that Starlink had acquired two licences from the NCC, which include an International Gateway licence and an ISP licence.

With the ISP licence, Starlink will be competing with the top ISPs in Nigeria such as Spectranet, FibreOne, Tizeti, iPNX, among others, and the mobile network operators, who currently have the larger chunk of internet customers in Nigeria.

Although Starlink has an edge over other service providers in that it will be providing its service via satellite, which can be accessed anywhere all over the country, its survival will depend on how competitive its prices are.

Why it matters

Stiff competition in the market often forces the operators to crash their prices as they battle for customers. Should Starlink be willing to compete on the price front, this will be a big win for internet users in Nigeria.

With satellite service from Starlink, Nigeria will be able to bridge its access gap, especially in the rural areas not being reached by the current operators. Starlink is a low latency broadband internet system created to meet the needs of consumers in rural areas with low internet penetration across the globe.

In terms of speed, Starlink is theoretically capable of delivering 150Mbps internet speeds to any place on the planet. This will challenge other operators in the country to upgrade their broadband services to achieve competitive speed in the market.

What you should know

With the International Gateway licence, Starlink is allowed to construct, own, operate, maintain and use an International Gateway for the provision and operation of international access and gateway services in Nigeria.

This means that the company can provide services such as global mobile personal communication by satellite, mobile radio services, VSAT Services, internet node, and backbone services.

In this category, Starlink will be competing with Globacom, Prest Cable & Satellite TV Systems Ltd, IMBIL Telecom Solutions Nig Ltd, and Green Foot Global Resources Ltd., who all have the same licence in Nigeria

Obiano’s wife wins Anambra North senatorial primary election for APGA

A former first lady and wife of the immediate past government of Anambra state, Ebelechukwu Obiano, has won the Anambra North senatorial primary election of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

Mrs Obiano defeated her husband’s former Chief of Staff, Mr Primus Odili in a keenly contested primary election at the Ikpeazu Sports Stadium, Onitsha, on Sunday.

While announcing Obiano as the winner, Mr Ikenna Osuji, the Returning Officer of the primary elections committee, said she scored 152 votes to defeat his closest rival, Odili, who polled 120 votes, with the other 2 aspirants, Mr Sam Onwuteaka and Mr Tony Nnacheta getting 2 votes each.

Osuji described the election as peaceful, adding that delegates and aspirants conducted themselves in an orderly manner.

This election is coming a day after there had been reports that APGA’s Anambra North Senatorial District primary election had been postponed as a large number of thugs invaded the Anambra East Local Government Area in Otuocha, the venue of the election.

They reported that thugs also took over the vicinity around the area and held some party officials hostage, with some members of the party blaming Mrs Obiano for the fracas, while other party members blamed a certain House of Representatives member for causing the disruption.

A source linked to Mrs Obiano, however, denied that she had any hand in the unfortunate incident.

What you should know

Recall that in the build-up to the November 2021 governorship election in Anambra state, Governor Willie Obiano, revealed that he had no interest in contesting for any elective position in the 2023 general election, but said that his wife, Ebelechukwu will be contesting for the Anambra north senatorial district.

She will be contesting against the incumbent Senator in the zone, Stella Oduah, who also picked the senatorial ticket of the PDP.

Recall that earlier in March 2022, during the swearing-in-ceremony of Professor Charles Soludo as the Governor of Anambra state, Mrs Obiano was involved in a physical fight with the widow of the late founder of APGA and former governor of the defunct Eastern region, Mrs Bianca Ojukwu.

How Atiku beat Wike, other aspirants to emerge PDP Presidential candidate

Atiku and Nyesom Wike had about 81% of the votes from the delegates...

Atiku Abubakar

Nigeria’s former Vice President and the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, once again emerged as the party’s flag bearer for the 2023 presidential election after several weeks of politicking and horse-trading.

Some media reports have emerged on how the 75-year-old Atiku beat his closest challenger, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, and other contestants to win the PDP’s presidential ticket for the 2023 general election.

Atiku and Nyesom Wike had about 81% of the votes from the delegates, while the rest of the candidates had to make do with about 19% of the total vote cast.

PDP denied plans to postpone convention

Following the extension of the deadline by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by 6 days for political parties to conduct their primaries for the 2023 general election, there were rumours that PDP may postpone its national convention.

However, the PDP denied it had any plans of postponing the convention, but rather criticised INEC for shifting the goal post as well as the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) of postponing its convention.

The Convention was held on Saturday Mat 28, at the Velodrome of the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja.

How Atiku Abunabar won the Presidential ticket of PDP

There are reports that Atiku emerged following last minute intrigues and the intervention of some northern elders as the Rivers State Governor, Wike, appeared to be coasting home to victory.

Wike, who seemed to have the support of a good number of delegates, especially from the southern part of the country, was alleged to have secured the support of the party’s delegate from Kano state following the intervention of an influential political leader from the state.

The intervention of the northern elders was said to have led to the withdrawal of the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal and a former Managing Director of FSB International Bank, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, from the race.

The leaders were reported to have in a crucial meeting on Friday night, discussed with the aspirants from the northern part of the country how to reduce the number of aspirants from the region to one.

It was learnt that the northern leaders insisted that a particular candidate from the southern part of the country should not be allowed to win the election.

The northern elders were said to have zeroed in on Atiku because he is considered to have national spread more than the other aspirants as well as having the capacity to better manage and unify the country.

According to Punch, Hayatu-Deen was said to have agreed to step down after the meeting, but Tambuwal and others said they would consider it.

In a dramatic twist and what seemed to be the masterstroke, the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, with some minutes to the commencement of voting, announced that he was stepping down from the contest and asked his supporters to vote for Atiku.

Ironically, Governor Wike played a leading role and actively supported Tambuwal’s aspiration to be Nigeria’s president in 2019, although he finally lost the ticket to Atiku during the PDP national convention.

Tambuwal said, “In view of the situation of our country and the need for us in our party to minimise rancour and jostling for power, in any case, it is not always about an individual; it must always be about our country.

‘’I have come to the conclusion – to the glory of God Almighty, seeing millions of Nigerians suffering and the need for us to close ranks in the party and as one of the leaders in this party – I have come to a patriotic conclusion to step down my aspiration,” Tambuwal said, to wide cheers and applause.

“And not only that, I have appealed to my supporters to take this in good strides and for national unity and patriotism – not only that, those who are delegates here – should vote for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.”

Atiku in his response said, ‘’Thank you, His Excellency Aminu Tambuwal, for your spirited campaign. I look forward to working with you as we unite our party and our country.’’

The support from Tambuwal seemed to have cemented Atiku’s victory over his main challenger, Governor Wike.

Atiku won the primary election with about 371 votes to beat Wike who had 237 votes to the second position. Former Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki came third with 70 votes while Udom Garbiel Emmanuel came fourth with 38 votes.

What Atiku Abubakar said after his victory

In his acceptance speech, after being declared the winner by the Chairman of the Convention Planning Committee, Senator David Mark, Atiku extended a hand of fellowship to the defeated aspirants and pledged to work with them to ensure victory for the party.

Atiku pledged to unite the country, which he said, has been divided by the APC-led administration, if elected president.

He said, “Today, we are making another history which we believe will bring fundamental changes in the country, both by providing adequate security and fixing the economy.’’

He described the election as one of the freest and a milestone to bring about democratic changes in Nigeria.

He promised to deal decisively with insecurity and revive the economy, appealing to all aggrieved members of the party to return to the party, adding that the internal conflict resolutions would be reactivated to address and resolve all disputes

Home Spotlight

Tip Jar, Twitter’s new giveaway feature that lets users send money to you

Twitter has introduced a new feature called Tip Jar that allows you send money to your favourite tweeters.

According to the blog post, “Tip Jar is an easy way to support the incredible voices that make up the conversation on Twitter. This is a first step in our work to create new ways for people to receive and show support on Twitter – with money.”

The new feature utilizes different payment platforms like PayPal, Venmo, Patreon, CashApp, and others.

Users can link their Twitter accounts with Tip Jar to any of these payment providers. Twitter takes no cut.

You’ll know an account’s Tip Jar is enabled if you see a Tip Jar icon next to the Follow button on their profile page. Tap the icon, and you’ll see a list of payment services or platforms that the account has enabled. Select whichever payment service or platform you prefer and you’ll be taken off Twitter to the selected app where you can show your support in the amount you choose.

Twitter has released series of features this year as part of its efforts to grow Twitter’s user base to 315 million daily active users by the end of 2023.

The company also launched Twitter crop where images don’t get crop again on Twitter for Android or iOS. Standard aspect ratio images (16:9 and 4:3) will now display in full without any cropping and images will look just like they did when you shot them.



Lauren Alexander, a Twitter spokesperson said, “Today’s launch is a direct result of the feedback people shared with us last year that the way our algorithm cropped images wasn’t equitable, The new way of presenting images decreases the platform’s reliance on automatic, machine learning-based image cropping.”

Twitter has tested several features and more will be rolled out soon.

Home General News

SpaceX says it’s pursuing necessary licenses to bring Starlink to Nigeria

American private space exploration company founded by Elon Musk, SpaceX says it is working to pursue all necessary licenses needed to bring the Starlink Satellite internet services to Nigeria.

This was disclosed by Mr Ryan Goodnight, SpaceX’s Starlink Market Access Director for Africa in a meeting with NCC’s Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC), Prof. Umar Danbatta on Friday in Abuja.

What SpaceX is saying about Starlink in Nigeria
“SpaceX has been in discussion with NCC virtually over the past several months to begin the process of pursuing all necessary licences to bring Starlink, its satellite-based broadband services, to Nigeria.

Having made substantial progress in the discussion, the commission granted SpaceX’s request for a face-to-face discussion to gain better insights on the prospects,” they said.

The NCC stated that it has listened to SpaceX’s presentation and will review it vis-à-vis its regulatory direction of ensuring an effective and sustainable telecoms ecosystem where a licensee’s operational model does not dampen healthy competition among other licensees.


“As the regulator of a highly dynamic sector in Nigeria, the commission is conscious of the need to ensure that our regulatory actions are anchored on national interest,” they said.

NCC added that broadband penetration of 70% which covers 90% of the population is the FG’s target in its National Broadband Plan (NNBP), 2020-2025. This is also in line with its National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2010-2030.

What you should know
Starlink is an internet service launched by SpaceX to improve internet coverage in rural and underserved areas globally. Starlink satellites are over 60 times closer to Earth than traditional satellites, resulting in lower latency and the ability to support services typically not possible with traditional satellite internet.


Nairametrics also reported this month that the  Federal Government announced a deal with Microsoft through the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy for the development of high-speed internet infrastructure across the six regions in the country.

Home Breaking News

CC licenses Elon Musk’s Starlink to provide internet service in Nigeria

Elon Musk tweeted that Nigeria had approved Starlink

Nigeria has approved Elon Musk’s Starlink, a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite Internet access coverage to 32 countries where its use has been licensed.

This was tweeted by the World’s richest man, Elon Must via his Twitter handle. Nairametrics has also confirmed this with the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC.

Starlink provides high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the globe. Within each coverage area, orders are fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis.

NCC Confirms

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) confirmed to Nairametrics that it has licensed Starlink, a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite Internet access coverage to 32 countries. This licensing followed a visit to Nigeria by the company’s team in May last year. 

“The company received two licenses, which include the International Gateway license and Internet Service Provider (ISP) license, and will be trading as Starlink Internet Services Nigeria Ltd. According to NCC, the International Gateway license has a 10-year tenure while the ISP license is to last for five years. Both licenses take effect from May 2022 and may be renewed after the expiration.” NCC

Elated Elon Musk took to his Twitter handle to announce this development, which Nairametrics also confirmed from the NCC. 

With high speeds and latency as low as 20 minutes in most locations, Starlink enables video calls, online gaming, streaming, and other high data rate activities that historically have not been possible with satellite internet.

Users also have the option to take Starlink with them via the Portability feature or Starlink. 

Starlink’s visit to Nigeria 

In May last year, Starlink’s Market Access Director for Africa, Ryan Goodnight along with SpaceX consultant, Levin Born had paid a visit to the NCC where they expressed interest to obtain a license to operate the satellite internet in the country. 

Prior to the visit, the regulator and the space company have been discussing the issue virtually before approval for a physical meeting was granted by the NCC. 

What NCC told the team 

After SpaceX representatives provided an overview of its plans, expectations, licensing requests, and deployment phases, the Executive Vice-Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, represented by the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, NCC, Ubale Maska, promised them that the NCC would work on necessary modalities to ensure that it balances the need for healthy competition vis-a-vis the entry of new technologies, in order to protect all industry stakeholders. 

Maska had said: “As the regulator of a highly dynamic sector in Nigeria, the Commission is conscious of the need to ensure that our regulatory actions are anchored on national interest. We have listened to your presentation and we will review it vis-à-vis our regulatory direction of ensuring effective and a sustainable telecoms ecosystem where a licensee’s operational model does not dampen healthy competition among other licensees.” 

Maska further stated that the Commission was interested in making necessary regulatory efforts to drive the coverage of rural, unserved, and underserved areas of the country through the accomplishments of the targets contained in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan, NNBP, 2020-2025.