The Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has told Parliament that processes have already begun to license Starlink, the satellite internet constellation owned by Billionaire Elon Musk.
“Starlink is in the process of being licensed. And other operators are being encouraged to land in Ghana. We must also invest in operationalizing RASCOM (Regional African Satellite Company) instead of each country going at it alone,” she said to legislators today, March 18, while answering questions about recent internet outages experienced in the country.
While Starlink may seem relatively expensive, she told Parliament further that the “government will license satellite gateway air stations, London rights, and satellite air station network, One web.
The consideration for satellite internet service comes after Thursday’s internet disruptions that affected 13 African countries, including Ghana.
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Although the telecommunications companies have now restored some internet services temporarily, as a result of help from their international partners, it would take over a month to restore full service, the National Communications Authority (NCA), which is the regulator said on Sunday.