Starlink has officially launched in Sierra Leone, making it the 100th country in the world and the 10th African country where the satellite Internet service owned by billionaire Elon Musk is available.
Musk’s company in a post on X on Tuesday, announced the launch, celebrating the the milestone.
Starlink is available in Sierra Leone! 🛰️🇸🇱❤️ → https://t.co/njsFftYNeY pic.twitter.com/x1uNC8SrmL
— Starlink (@Starlink) June 11, 2024
Sierra Leone had previously granted Starlink an operating licence in June 2023 when its minister of basic and senior secondary education and chief innovation officer, David Moinina Sengeh made the announcement.
But a year after that announcement, the satellite internet service is only now available in the country after Sengeh met with senior staff of Starlink and SpaceX in Texas, alongside other government reps last month.
Commenting on the announcement, Sengeh said, “When I left the private sector and tech to join the government, it was for moments like this – today, one year after we engaged Starlink about entering Sierra Leone, we went live.”
The satellite Internet device from Elon Musk’s company, which is said to offer high Internet connectivity, has come to Sierra Leone, where internet penetration for the population was 18% in 2020 but rose to 21% at the start of 2023 and is expected to reach 40.41% in 2024.
Read Also:
Botswana Becomes Latest African Country to Grant Starlink an Operating Licence
Zimbabwe Approves Starlink Two Weeks After Politician’s Son’s Arrest – Report
NCA Approves Starlink’s Satellite Broadband Service in Ghana
