Need for new policy on Satellite internet

Yet the truth of the matter is that all over Africa and beyond, sector regulators and policymakers are scratching their heads in a bid to come to grips with the threat satellite providers pose to traditional telcos and the likely negative consequences to their macro economies.

Indeed, several markets in Africa have responded to the entry of satellite operators in their markets by publicly classifying Starlink as ‘illegal’ within their territories. They include Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal and DRC.

Last year, South Africa’s Independent Communications Authority (Icasa) put out a statement saying that Starlink was not licenced to operate in the country and needed to comply with regulations, including having to meet a 30 percent local shareholding threshold.

Read:  Kenya satellite Internet uptake rises 64pc on Elon Musk’s Starlink entry

Just last week, the South African regulatory authority put out a notice proposing several changes to the current legal framework to accommodate satellite service providers and invited stakeholders and members of the public to submit ideas and proposals.

I ask: why is it that the entry of satellite providers into our telecommunications sector is not being treated as a big policy and regulatory issue in Kenya? There is a very good case for opening a public conversation on what is clearly one of the most pertinent questions in the telecommunications sector today.

Should we licence the likes of Star Link as independent providers or should we introduce a requirement that they go into partnership with local licensees so that they can operate on one side of the market as infrastructure providers?

Indeed one of the suggestions coming through is that satellite service providers should be granted infrastructure provider licence only. We need to debate the pros and cons of some of these issues and suggestions.

For if we grant them licences to operate as independent players, then we must be ready to face the consequences of hosting companies which will be operating here without a physical presence in the country or only via third parties such as resellers. The flip side of such a situation is that regulating compliance to government regulations becomes difficult.

We must not forget that satellite network operators can export voice and data directly via satellite to other countries especially when a national gateway earth station is not mandated.

And, there are major security implications because the regulator finds himself having to deal with an entity that has no physical presence in Nairobi. Just the other day, we witnessed the implications of such a situation. Russia attacked Ukraine and cut part of the country's terrestrial networks. Ukraine was forced to call for help from the Starlink satellite constellation and its owner, Mr Elon Musk.

A few hours later, the Americans intervened and provided access to the internet for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. We learnt poignant lessons about the capability of satellite networks to conduct security operations across borders.

In May last year hundreds of humanitarian organisations operating in war torn Sudan cried loudly when Starlink shut down the links and connections there and had to appeal to Mr Musk.

Read: Starlink's entry into Kenya could be a new fading star

Let us debate the likely impact of independent satellite players on co- existence with mobile operators in the same space.

The argument I hear being made out there is that if we don’t separate mobile operators and if we don't make satellite operators infrastructure providers, implementing peaceful co-existence will be a big headache to the regulator. The regulator will find itself having to respond to incessant complaints about network interference from both sides.

The fact that we are not discussing Starlink and implication of its entry into the market to profitability of the traditional Telcos publicly is a reminder that the sector regulator is yet to think through a clear strategy on how it wants the telecommunications sector to evolve and grow in the medium term.

The biggest weakness has been failure by policy to guide the industry into a thoroughly competitive sector with more than one profitable player- where consumers enjoy competitive prices – and where consumer protection issues are observed keenly.