Starlink forced Safaricom to improve services – Kenyan President Ruto

Kenyan President William Ruto disclosed that bringing Elon Musk’s Starlink to his country was one of the best decisions of his administration.

He stated this at the US-Kenya Business and Investment Roundtable in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

According to him, the penetration of Starlink into African countries has created competition, causing existing telecommunication companies, such as Safaricom, to improve their services.

Safaricom is the largest telecommunication company across the 13 countries that make up the East Africa community: Kenya, Djibouti, Rwanda Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, Ethiopia, Comoros, Eritrea, Seychelles, Uganda, and Sudan.

He said, “I have my CEO for Safaricom – Sometimes he is not very happy with me for bringing other characters like Elon Musk and others into the space. I keep encouraging Peter that competition makes you keep ahead and he’s been doing pretty well, I must admit, he’s really upped his game.”

When did Starlink become active in Kenya

The East African country is the second country in Africa to grant SpaceX’s Starlink operating licence and became active on July 18, 2023, six months after‌ Nigeria (January 30, 2023).

Before the penetration of the satellite internet constellation into the East African country, Kenyans had lamented about the exploitative nature of the biggest player, Safaricom, in the telecom industry in the country.

Safaricom increases internet speed to retain customers

Meanwhile, the expansion of Starlink into the Kenyan market may have forced the largest East African telecom firm to increase its internet speed across all packages without increasing prices.

In a recent announcement by the telecom company which has dominated Kenya for years, also launched a new platinum package with 1GB for KES20,000 per month.

For instance, bronze package, which used to be 10Mbps, has been increased to 15Mbps with the old price (KES2,999); the internet speed of Silver package has equally been increased from 20 Mbps to 30 Mbps, while Gold, which used to be 40 Mbps, has also been increased to 80 Mbps.

Other packages include Diamond: from 100 Mbps to 500 Mbps while their users will also enjoy the newly launched Platinum package (1000 Mbps) costing KES 20,000.

“We have enhanced our Home Internet speeds to cater to the increased demand and usage by offering reliable connectivity and enhanced value for our customers. The introduction of the new speeds offers capability of handling the most demanding online activities with ease, including high-definition streaming 4K/8K, gaming, large file transfers, cloud computing, and virtual reality” Peter Ndegwa, the Chief Executive Officer of the telecom company said during the announcement on Monday.

Many see the new announcement as one of the company’s strategic moves to retain its existing customers as Starlink continues to get the attentions of internet users across the country.