By: Willem Snyman

Paratus Group CEO Barney Harmse is optimistic about the possible outcome of the meeting between President Nangolo Mbumba and Elon Musk regarding Starlink.

Starlink is a satellite-based Internet service using thousands of low-flying satellites to deliver high-speed Internet at a low cost. Mbumba met Musk on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Paratus Group in Africa already has a partnership with Starlink across the continent and Harmse hopes the meeting might result in Starlink being awarded a license in Namibia.

He said if Starlink is awarded a license in the country, the technology can likely connect every square kilometer of the country.

“We already provide and sell Starlink products and services in countries like Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and a number of others. As far as Namibia is concerned we have a big, beautiful country. We have very far off places to reach and unfortunately we don’t have the means to connect all the remote places in Namibia especially schools, clinics and villages. With the technology that Starlink offers we can probably connect every square kilometer in Namibia irrespective of the distances or the remoteness of the locations,” said Harmse.

Digital Market Strategist Nrupesh Soni agrees the benefits of Starlink for Namibia will be massive, however, Starlink faces several challenges including the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) and other service providers like MTC and Telecom who won’t like disruption as Starlink might end up being cheaper than them.

Soni hopes the meeting will also result in more technology accessing the country.

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