A report by broadband intelligence firm Ookla has detailed the speeds of Starlink Internet in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria emerging among countries getting slower speeds from the satellite service.
According to the report, Starlink average speed in Nigeria is 49.6 Mbps, while a country like Botswana enjoys 106.4 Mbps from the same network.
Explaining the disparity to Nairametrics, a Spokesperson for Ookla attributed the slower speed in Nigeria to network congestion.
“Nigeria is arguably Starlink’s biggest market in Africa, so its network could be more congested than that in Botswana. The number of users connected to the same satellite can impact speeds,” he said.
Nairametrics earlier reported that Elon Musk’s Starlink became the second-largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Nigeria with 65,564 customers as of Q3 2024.
Starlink speeds in other African countries
While Botswana topped with 106.4 Mbps speed, Eswatini came second with 86.2 Mbps, slightly higher than Rwanda’s 85.5 Mbps.
- Burundi recorded 79.5 Mbps on the Starlink network, followed by Sierra Leone at 77.8 Mbps.
- Mozambique, Ghana, Malawi, and Zambia are also getting faster speeds than Nigeria, as the countries recorded 75.7, 75.1, 71.3, and 69.7 Mbps in that order.
- Countries getting lower speeds than Nigeria are Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Kenya, and Madagascar.
According to Ookla, the number of satellites over a location can also affect signal strength and speed, adding that more satellites can lead to better coverage and higher speeds.
- In addition, the firm noted that the quality and positioning of the satellite dish (terminal) can also influence performance.
Starlink vs terrestrial ISPs in Africa
Despite the disparity in speeds, the report noted that Starlink’s speed outperforms terrestrial ISPs across African countries
“According to Speedtest Intelligence, Starlink delivers substantially higher median download speeds than the overall median for other ISPs across all surveyed markets.
“For example, Starlink offers median speeds of 106.36 Mbps and 86.18 Mbps in Botswana and Eswatini, respectively—far exceeding the 9.36 Mbps and 13.6 Mbps provided by other ISPs.
“In Burundi and Mozambique, the Starlink-to-other-ISP download speed ratio is also high at 7.6 and 6.6, respectively. Even in Ghana and Rwanda, with the fastest median download speed for terrestrial ISPs at 44.66 Mbps and 44.15 Mbps in Q1 2025, respectively, Starlink outperformed them with 75.1 Mbps and 85.5 Mbps,” the report stated.
More generally, it stated that Starlink is still faster than other ISPs in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia by a factor of 2 to 4.
However, the speed difference is less than double in a few spots, like Ghana, Rwanda, and Madagascar.
What you should know
Despite its higher costs compared with local ISPs, Starlink, which announced its presence in Nigeria in January 2023, had sparked high interest among Nigerians who were eager to change their service providers.
- The ubiquitous status of its satellite service also encourages people in areas with poor internet connections to go for Starlink.
- Many local ISPs that have been in operation in Nigeria for several years are currently having far less than the number of customers Starlink has garnered in just two years of its operations.
