Starlink is raising the bar for broadband performance across parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
According to recently released research from Ookla, Starlink, the SpaceX-backed low-Earth orbit satellite service, is already outperforming many traditional internet service providers (ISPs) on download speed in several African markets.
In countries such as Botswana, Rwanda and Mozambique, Starlink users are recording median download speeds of around 75 Mbps, or higher in some cases, more than double the performance of terrestrial networks.
However, the research notes that local ISPs relying on terrestrial networks typically perform better on price and latency.
Upload speeds are a point of variance, it finds, with Starlink maintaining an advantage over local ISPs in 13 out of 23 of the assessed markets. The use of fibre-to-the-home tends to be a more prominent factor in the remaining ten markets, Ookla notes.
The findings come amid a broader shift in Africa’s connectivity landscape, where satellite internet is increasingly emerging as a viable alternative to traditional infrastructure, particularly in underserved and rural regions.
This trend is also visible globally, where improving performance and wider availability have pushed Starlink into the mainstream, challenging the long-standing dominance of fibre and mobile networks in areas where fixed infrastructure remains limited.
Gaining ground
Ookla data shows that Starlink download speeds in 16 out of the 23 countries analysed exceeded 50 Mbps median speeds in Q1 2026. Only Eswatini, Botswana and Senegal surpassed 100 Mbps, highlighting significant variation across markets.
"It [Starlink] outperforms local ISPs’ median download speeds in almost every market (except Madagascar),” the research notes.
Ookla adds that Starlink’s investments in ground infrastructure have helped to slash satellite latency, but notes that progress between countries is uneven.
“The deployment of dedicated points of presence in Johannesburg and Nairobi has cut latencies by over 80%, enabling Kenya, for example, to achieve the lowest continental latency at 39ms. Conversely, countries without localised gateways, like DR Congo (127ms) and Liberia (222ms), face severe performance penalties," the research notes.
Further, Ookla notes that terrestrial networks remain competitive, often superior, in upload speeds and, in some cases, multi-server latency, due to the inherent advantages of fibre routing.
The Ookla study covered 23 of the 27 African countries where Starlink is currently licensed. The four countries excluded were Lesotho and São Tomé and Príncipe (Starlink launched in both in late 2025), the Central African Republic (launched in early 2026), and Uganda (launched in May 2026).
Since its pilot in Nigeria and Rwanda, the service now covers over 51% of the region, and as at the end of 2025, according to Dataxis, the sub-Saharan region had over half a million subscribers.
Starlink’s parent SpaceX recently hit international headlines with its IPO, which valued the company in excess of $1.8 trillion.
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