Malawi has become the latest country in Africa to see a commercial launch of satellite broadband services by Starlink, the satellite internet business of SpaceX.
The firm’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are designed to offer high speed, low latency broadband internet in remote and rural locations across the globe. The service is currently priced at MWK52,000 (USD48.9) per month, while hardware costs MWK655,000. Starlink says that users can expect ‘typical high speed internet with brief periods of intermittent service and high latency’, and will be able to ‘engage in common internet activity like email, online shopping, or streaming a movie, but will not be able to engage in activities like online gaming or video calls’. The firm adds that the service will improve ‘dramatically’ over the next year.