Professor Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has disclosed the Commission’s expectation from Elon Musk’s Starlink.
SpaceX (Starlink) received two licenses: “the International Gateway” and “Internet Service Provider” from the NCC, recently.
The International Gateway and the ISP licenses have 10-year and 5-year tenure respectively. Both licenses took effect from May 2022 and may be renewed after the expiration.
However, during his presentation on “Realizing the New Set Target of 70% Broadband Penetration”; at ATCON National Strategic Mobilization for the Actualization of National Broadband target of 70% Conference & Exhibition held in Abuja during the week, Danbatta said the Commission believes the satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX (Starlink) will provide high-speed, low-latency broadband internet across the country.
“The Company providing satellite Internet access coverage to 32 countries across the globe”, he said.
The NCC boss that the Nigeria National Broadband Plan (NNBP) mandates “Leveraging existing Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) infrastructure to reach unserved/underserved rural areas” hence the Commission has further ratified guidelines for Commercial Satellite Communications including Earth Station in Motion (ESIM), Very small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), VSAT Hub, and Space Segment Satellite Operators.
“The Commission has granted the first Landing Permit to a Space Segment Satellite Operator which will bring enormous broadband capacity to the country”, he explained.
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