Airtel Africa is the latest in the line of telecoms operators partnering with LEO (low-earth orbit) operator Starlink to expand its reach and services.
The deal was facilitated by parent company Bharti Airtel, which struck its own agreement with Starlink in India in March.
The tie-up between Airtel and Starlink will benefit both companies as well as enterprise customers and businesses, pending regulatory approval in India and five African markets within Airtel Africa’s footprint markets where Starlink is not yet currently licensed, according to GlobalData.
Ismail Patel, senior analyst: enterprise technology and services at GlobalData, comments: “For Starlink, partnering with telcos will give it access to points of sale on the ground as it competes with other LEO satellite systems that are vying for position globally.
“For telcos like Airtel, Starlink can help expand its reach to business customers with rural presence, educational institutions, health centres, logistical firms, agricultural and mining workers, remote tourist hotspots, and others generally requiring a more robust quality of service.
“There is also an opportunity for the Airtels of both India and Africa to improve their cellular backhaul through Starlink.”
GlobalData analysis reveals the massive micro, small, and medium business opportunity in India, with roughly similar metrics for the African markets where Airtel operates. Airtel Africa and Starlink partnership has the potential to increase digitalisation in rural and semi-rural regions in the 14 countries where Airtel Africa operates, especially for micro, small and medium businesses.
In India, the Confederation of Indian Industry states that, of 63-million MSMEs in the country, over 51% are based in rural areas. Fixed broadband penetration of household units in India stood at just 9% as of end-2024, according to GlobalData.
Patel concludes: “Starlink is trying to get a foothold in the global market with a clever combination of D2C and B2B strategies. It already has struck several partnerships with operators in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, and Ukraine.
“It wants to maximise the head start it has on its rivals – like Amazon Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile, Telesat Lightspeed, and Eutelsat OneWeb (which itself is partly owned by Bharti Airtel) – that are at various stages of deployment and geographical breadth.
“Competition is expected to heat up rapidly as telcos and satellite vendors will be striking a myriad of partnerships with one another to boost connectivity, which will only serve to benefit business and enterprise customers more.
“With this backdrop, those telcos and LEOs who stand to gain the most are those who get their foot in the door before others and leverage their first-mover advantage.”