Musk’s internet foray into Africa should be blocked

Elon Musk has been “hovering” over Africa with his network of satellites, Starlink, planning to be a formidable internet provider in a significant number of African countries by the end of this year. That objective, of the South African-born and raised oligarch, should be viewed as alarming and ominous to most African nations.

We think Musk’s attention on Africa is bad news for a continent struggling to make its way in an increasingly diverse and digital world. Many in Africa may or may not know that Starlink is linked to what was once Twitter, a social media platform now called X, a sad shell of its former self by every conventional business metric.

Repelled by Musk’s behaviour and changes to the platform, advertisers have pulled back on their spending and users have fled. Musk has made Twitter more inflammatory, abusive and opaque; a place where conspiracy-minded racists find the like-minded; and where those who spread harmful disinformation that results in real world harm find encouragement.

We also think that Starlink’s forays need to be thwarted not only because the company pushes back against any regulation by local laws but also because Musk’s politics are odious and antithetical to core African values and beliefs, he is someone described—in the New York Times—as whose “business practices are loathsome, someone employees allege oversaw rampant racial discrimination, sexual harassment and allowed unsafe practices”.

Self-promotion and grandstanding

For those who care about the bottom-line, we invite them to examine the totality of the package Starlink offers which is much higher than the average African internet service provider (ISP). Starlink in Nigeria, for example, comes at a monthly subscription fee of 38,000 naira ($27) while its one-off installation kit costs 440,000 naira ($314).

Compare this to local telco services like Airtel, which offers 1GB of mobile data for 1,000 naira ($0.68). To add insult to financial injury, Starlink demands payment in US dollars, thus undermining African currencies. Not forgetting that local telcos leave actual infrastructure on the ground, theirs isn’t hundreds of miles up in the sky with an off switch somewhere in Texas or California.

To the best of our knowledge, local African ISPs and telecommunications firms do not pose a security threat to their nations. There is credible evidence that Starlink’s actions have done that precisely. Musk, whose lust for self-promotion and grandstanding is well known has, willingly and directly, attempted to interfere with the course of the Ukraine-Russia war by intentionally bringing Starlink’s capabilities into play in the conflict. 

There is also Brazil, a G20 country, where a judge recently ordered the suspension of X for spreading “disinformation about the country’s electronic voting system thus undermining its democracy. Musk dug in, saying Starlink wouldn’t enforce the ban because it was all about free-speech. Subsequently, Starlink retreated and now says it will block X.

How many African countries really want to put that sort of power over their affairs in the hands of a character like Musk? How many African countries have the political gravitas and patriotic leadership of Brazil to stand up to Musk and his growing networks of political, corporate and media associates?

National strategic asset

What we find truly objectionable, among the many other objectionable things outlined above, is the crude attempt to suffocate and jettison local ISPs and telecommunication companies, like Kenya’s Safaricom, a gem of a company that provides tremendous economic value for both the State and its citizens; an exemplar for corporations in the global south in financial inclusion as well as digital and mobile connectivity. Safaricom/M-Pesa has been Kenya’s ticket to the fourth industrial revolution. 

Africa already lost out on previous industrial revolutions, with dire consequences that have stigmatised the African people for over half a millennium. Let’s not set the stage for us losing the next. For savings of a few pieces of silver and a bit more internet speed, local actors cheering on and lobbying for a company that’s owned by Musk, who has no solidarity whatsoever with this continent, let alone this country, is deplorable.

Companies like Safaricom have shown over the last two decades that it is worthy of protection as a national strategic asset, much like the big American banks whose failure, to the US, would be economically and politically catastrophic. Is it too much to hope that African telecommunication companies can also treated as “too big to fail” and be extended legislative and strategic protection accordingly?

Total rejection of foreign low-earth orbit satellite technology is clearly not an option for a country with Kenya’s industrial revolution aspirations and security and military needs. However, access to such technology should not be gained at the expense of Kenya‘s corporate crown jewels. 

Mr Kamau is the former Principal Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Ega-Musa, a former UN official, is the editor of ‘The African Edition’.