(Reuters) -South Africa's largest mobile operator Vodacom Group has signed an agreement with Elon Musk's Starlink to deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband internet for businesses across Africa, the telecom firm said on Wednesday.
Despite Vodacom's footprint of over 223 million customers, rural Africa remains a tough frontier. Sparse populations, difficult terrain, and low smartphone penetration make traditional tower rollouts costly.
The African company, majority owned by Britain's Vodafone, has
been seeking to close connectivity gaps across the continent through low-earth orbit satellite technology which can help provide internet even in tough terrains.
Vodacom will integrate Starlink's satellite technology for data relay into its mobile network and will be authorized to resell equipment and services from the SpaceX-owned firm to customers in Africa, the company said in a statement.
"We continue dealing with multiple satellite providers, including Starlink, where Starlink has been licensed, including AST SpaceMobile as well as Amazon Kuiper," CEO Shameel Joosub told Reuters after Vodacom's interim results on Monday.
Vodacom's bigger Africa rival MTN Group is also exploring partnerships with satellite providers, while parent Vodafone has teamed up with Amazon's LEO satellite constellation Project Kuiper and AST SpaceMobile.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Nqobile Dludla in Johannesburg; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
