Elon Musk’s Starlink Coming to SA

South Africans will soon have access to SpaceX’s Starlink high-speed, low-latency broadband service.

Owned by South African born Elon Musk, Starlink uses a constellation of lower-earth orbit (LEO) satellites to offer fast Internet connectivity to its users.

The service is of particular benefit to people living in rural locations who cannot get fibre or mobile broadband. 

While the service is currently not available in the country for the moment, South Africans can reserve a spot and put down a deposit of $99 (R1,460) which will be applied towards a future purchase of Starlink equipment offered by SpaceX as part of its two-way satellite-based internet service. 

The Starlink website says it is targeting coverage in South Africa in 2022, with availability being limited.  

Payment has to be made within 15 minutes before the user is required to resubmit their information to see if orders remain available.

The Starlink Kit includes the Starlink dish antenna, Wi-Fi router, power supply, cables, and a mounting tripod.

The deposit amount will be subtracted from the monthly cost of $99 and upfront equipment cost of $499 (R7,333) once the kit is available for purchase by the customer.

Starlink offers speeds of 50-150Mbp with a latency of 20-40ms.