Kenya’s largest telco Safaricom is urging the government to bar SpaceX’s Starlink from operating over the country, or at least to require the Elon Musk–owned business to take on a local partner.

Safaricom’s letter to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) said: “Satellite coverage inherently spans multiple territorial borders and in doing so has the potential to illegally provide services and cause harmful interference withinthe territorial borders of the Republic of Kenya”.

It told the CAK that it was working with AST SpaceMobile and that AST would be “an infrastructure provider” to Safaricom.

Safaricom complains about the risks of interference and the lack of regulation for satellite providers, as well as the need to oblige satellite operators to pay into the nation’s Universal Service Fund which supports the expansion of telecoms services to rural and underserved areas. Safaricom in general says it wants a ‘level playing field’ for satellite operators when compared to land–based suppliers.

Safaricom sees the threat coming from the potential for Starlink to bypass local networks entirely, providing direct internet access to consumers without relying on or needing terrestrial infrastructure. This, inevitably, would undermine Safaricom’s significant investments in network development across Kenya, especially in rural regions where the company has been working to expand its reach.

However, local comments are not entirely favourable. One X user said: “Safaricom should no tdictate which services Kenyans can or cannot use. The company has consistently fallen short in offering fair services to its customers. It’s time to break the monopoly and embrace diversity in our communication choices. Say no to Safaricom’s dominance.”

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Categories: Articles, Policy, Regulation, Satellite

Tags: Kenya, Safari, satellite, starlink