At the maiden Rural Connectivity Summit organised by Business Metrics in Lagos, the President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Tony Izuagbe Emoekpere, said: “We need to move away from talk shops into actions.”

Speaking under the theme “Rethinking Digital Connectivity to Unlock Rural Economic Potential,” Emoekpere said the industry must stop recycling discussions and start building practical, context-specific solutions that meet the real needs of rural Nigerians. 

“We are all part of the talk shop industry, so to speak, as advocates, we go around speaking. But what impact are we having? What impact are we making?” he asked.

ATCON president noted that despite the official claim of about 200 million active telecom subscribers, many of those figures are duplicates. “They are not real people,” he stressed, noting the example of modern iPhones that can host up to eight eSIMs without a physical SIM slot. 

“If you are counting that as eight subscribers, can you see the irony in that, in this, our data? Let us connect real people.”

Away from telecom subscribers, the ATCON president also challenged engineers and service providers to rethink their design approach, saying too many solutions are borrowed from other regions without adaptation. “We just borrow technology. We are very lazy. We borrow technology,” he said. 

“You are supposed to go to an OEM and say, ‘This is a problem I want to solve.’ Design the system to suit that problem.”

According to him, many of Nigeria’s rural challenges, from banking exclusion to market access for farmers, could be solved with basic, fit-for-purpose digital tools. “The lowest of the lowest hanging fruit in the rural communities is that they are unbanked,” he said. 

“If you try and adopt the POS system, for example, and make it a rural solution that allows POS to operate in rural communities, you have already brought people into the banking sector.”

He gave another example: farmers in remote villages selling produce at unfairly low prices because they lack access to real-time market data. “If I tell the village that, I can give you real-time prices of what you produce, what has been sold. Pay me 10 Naira for that information, for example, so that when the middle man comes to me and says, ‘I’m paying,’ the guy says, ‘No, I’ve received information that pineapple today in Lagos is 3,000 Naira.’ Even if you are transporting it, I cannot collect less than 500 Naira,” he said.

Emoekpere emphasised that the problem is not the absence of markets in rural Nigeria, but the industry’s failure to understand and serve that market correctly. “That there is no market in the rural community is wrong. The issue is our approach to that market,” he said.

He urged organisers and participants at the summit to ensure concrete outcomes beyond conversations. “At the end of the day, we are looking at action, actionable points and even identifying potential drivers, say, ‘Mr A is going to do this, Mr B is going to do that.’”

Connecting rural Nigeria requires empathy, innovation, and accountability, far beyond technology deployment. “We must connect real people,” he concluded. 

On Starlink’s portal, neighbourhoods such as Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lagos Island, Surulere, and several estates in Abuja now carry a bold “Sold Out” notice. 

Users attempting to subscribe are prompted to pay a deposit to secure a place in line. A message displayed to applicants in Chevyville Estate, Lekki, reads: “Starlink service is currently at capacity in your area. However, the good news is you can still place a deposit now to reserve your spot on the waitlist and receive a notification as soon as service becomes available again.”

In November 2024, Starlink also suspended nationwide sales for almost eight months, pointing to bandwidth shortages and unresolved disputes with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over tariff approvals. 

New activations only resumed in June 2025, after the company secured regulatory clearance and upgraded parts of its infrastructure.

An engineer working with Starlink, who spoke to TechCabal, explained the reasoning behind the pause: “It happens when the area cannot take a new customer due to its designed capacity at the time. This also ensures optimal network connectivity for the other users within the same geographical area.” 

Expanding this capacity, he added, often requires either new satellite launches or regulatory permissions to build more ground infrastructure.

High Costs and Shrinking Base

Starlink’s service has become more expensive since its 2022 entry into Nigeria. The monthly subscription has climbed from around ₦38,000 to nearly ₦56,000 by 2025, with hardware kits priced between ₦300,000 and ₦670,000 depending on the model. The company blamed the naira’s depreciation, operating costs, and compliance with NCC regulations.

The hikes triggered strong complaints from users. In October 2024, the NCC sanctioned Starlink for unauthorised increases, noting breaches of Sections 108 and 111 of the Nigerian Communications Act. The regulator forced a rollback from ₦75,000 to ₦38,000 monthly before eventually approving moderated adjustments in early 2025.

But the damage was already visible. NCC data shows active Starlink subscribers fell from 65,564 in Q4 2024 to 59,509 in Q1 2025, a 9% drop and the company’s first decline in Nigeria since launch. Analysts pointed to high tariffs, economic hardship, and service delays from capacity freezes as key drivers of the fall.

Network Quality Under Scrutiny

Even with over 6.2 million global users as of July 2025 and more than 900 satellites launched this year, Starlink’s speeds in Nigeria remain below regional averages. Reports place its Nigerian download speeds at 49.6 Mbps, significantly lower than Botswana’s 106.4 Mbps. Experts attribute the gap to fewer satellites serving Nigeria, overcrowded cells in major cities, and a limited number of terrestrial Points of Presence.

Alternatives Emerging

While Starlink remains Nigeria’s largest satellite internet provider, its difficulties have opened room for competitors. YahClick, supported by Nigerian ISPs, offers plans from ₦25,000 per month. Tizeti has rolled out solar-powered broadband at ₦5,000 monthly, targeting underserved communities. Eutelsat Konnect, though pricier at $18,500 per month, promises up to 100 Mbps speeds.

Starlink’s issues in Nigeria is a pattern across Africa. Countries such as Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have also faced pauses in urban areas where demand has outpaced available capacity. Yet, Nigeria’s sheer scale, driven by remote work, e-learning, and video streaming, means that congestion here poses a sharper challenge.

Thousands of Nigerian households are now on waiting lists, uncertain when—or if—Starlink will open the door again.

MTN South Africa is engaging in trials with several LEO providers, including industry giants like SpaceX’s Starlink, to integrate satellite internet into its service offerings.

LEO satellites, which orbit closer to Earth than traditional satellites, offer high-speed internet even in locations where fibre and mobile broadband infrastructure are impractical or costly. 

Ralph Mupita, CEO of MTN, noted that to stay competitive and keep customers connected, satellite technology will need to be embraced as a complementary service. 

He confirmed that MTN is exploring opportunities not just as a partner but also as a reseller, particularly through its enterprise business in selected markets.

MTN’s strategy is in line with trends within the African telecommunications sector, where traditional companies are adjusting to the growing presence of satellite services. 

In addition to Starlink, which is already operational in several African nations, Amazon’s Project Kuiper has also entered the fray, aiming to provide similar solutions across the continent. 

In response, MTN and other operators such as Vodacom are seeking to incorporate satellite services into their existing network offerings, ensuring they are well-positioned for future competition.

The regulatory space for satellite internet in Africa remains difficult. Starlink, for instance, has encountered regulatory issues in countries like South Africa, where the Independent Communications Authority (ICASA) is still formulating a framework to regulate satellite internet services. 

Mupita highlighted the importance of ensuring that satellite operators face the same regulatory standards as traditional telecom companies, especially concerning data privacy, spectrum access, and local compliance.

As part of its approach, MTN aims to go beyond competition, it also seeks to partner with LEO satellite providers, thereby enhancing its network’s coverage and reliability. 

This move is particularly significant for Africa, where a large proportion of the population, especially in rural areas, still lacks reliable internet connectivity. 

The increased availability of satellite internet could help bridge the digital divide, stimulating economic growth by providing access to online education, business opportunities, and digital services.

MTN’s initiative is an important step towards improving digital inclusion on the continent, and by leveraging satellite technology, the company hopes to keep pace with the fast-changing telecommunications sector. 

This strategy will also ensure that more people across Africa can participate in the digital economy, helping to open up new opportunities for growth in areas that have long been overlooked.

Such restrictions compromise the integrity and fairness of elections by enabling governments to exert greater control over the public narrative.

Surfshark’s Research Hub has published an analysis detailing the countries that have been imposing internet restrictions during elections since 2015, and it forecasts those at risk of doing so in 2024.

“Election season often brings a wave of internet shutdowns around the world. As we gear up for an election-packed 2024, our Research Hub has examined internet freedom in 196 countries. We’ve discovered that countries with a history of internet blackouts during elections score an average of just 32 out of 100 on the global freedom scale. As a reminder, this scale measures personal, civil, and economic freedoms. 32 is significantly below the worldwide average of 58. This suggests a strong connection between digital censorship and wider violations of freedom,” says Agneska Sablovskaja, Lead Researcher at Surfshark.

Among the 90 countries gearing up for elections in 2024, 12 have a history of imposing restrictions on internet services during election times. Since 2015, a significant 75% of these interventions involved severing network connectivity. This tactic does more than just mute online conversations — it disrupts the flow of information essential for transparent electoral processes. The other measures have primarily concerned social media blackouts, which hinder the citizens’ ability to communicate, organize, and voice their objections.

Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia in the spotlight

Internet freedom is heavily affected in specific parts of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa leads with 29 reported cases of election-related internet censorship since 2015, closely followed by Southern Asia with 28 incidents. The impending 2024 elections loom large over countries in these areas — Mali, Malawi, Chad, and Mauritania in Sub-Saharan Africa and India, Iran, Pakistan, and Bangladesh in Southern Asia.

These trends suggest a strategic use of digital suppression tactics in these regions, which, coupled with their histories, indicate a heightened risk for internet blackouts as their elections draw near.

Since 2020, Pakistan has exhibited a concerning pattern where internet restrictions are directly linked to opposition-related events, raising the possibility that such tactics could recur in upcoming elections.

Notably, Pakistan is ranked fourth globally for total internet disruptions, with 17 documented cases, and third in Asia.

Beginning from 2022, Pakistan has seen a series of internet clampdowns, with eight incidents all aimed at stifling the activities surrounding the opposition party and its leader, Imran Khan.

The years 2022, 2023, and 2024 have seen three, four, and one restriction so far respectively, most of which targeted social media or messaging services.

The spring season poses significant challenges for India and Iran, which are preparing for parliamentary elections in the shadow of their records of internet clampdowns.

India has had four such instances and Iran three, since 2015. All of this creates a worrying pattern that these countries might resort to similar tactics to stifle digital communication in upcoming elections.

Belarus is also stepping into the election arena with its upcoming parliamentary elections. The country’s latest presidential election was significantly affected by extensive internet disruptions and the strategic blocking of social media channels, particularly Twitter — a vital platform for political participation and societal dialogue.