Abu Dhabi-backed Satellite Internet Firm Vies With Elon Musk’s Starlink To Assert Dominance In Africa

The firm is in talks with the African Union Development Agency and existing partners on the continent, including Microsoft Corp, over a possible fundraising.

Space42, an Abu Dhabi-based satellite broadband company, is looking to raise funds to expand in Africa, which will put it in direct competition with SpaceX unit Starlink.

According to a Bloomberg News report, citing Space42 Chief Executive Officer Hasan Al Hosani, the firm is in talks with the African Union Development Agency and existing partners on the continent, including Microsoft Corp. and data center firm Esri, as well as other financial firms. However, he reportedly added that the conversations are in the early stages and the business doesn’t yet have a target for how much it will raise.

The report stated that so far, the company, already backed by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, has started building out a physical presence and has connected schools and clinics in countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe. Space42 is also working on a mapping initiative with Microsoft and Esri for the entire continent.

While Space42 is much smaller in size compared to Starlink, which has thousands of satellites in orbit, the company has so far sent eight satellites to space and plans to launch another three this year. They offer varying types of coverage in 150 countries in Africa, the Middle East, parts of Europe, and much of Asia.

Governments worldwide are increasingly turning to satellite-based internet providers to enhance connectivity in remote areas lacking fiber internet infrastructure. However, retail sentiment on Stocktwits about Starlink rival AST SpaceMobile was still in the ‘bearish’ territory at the time of writing.

Starlink serves over 6 million customers worldwide and is present in about 20 African countries, as per the Bloomberg report.

The SpaceX-unit is now looking to enter South Africa, Musk’s country of birth, and has repeatedly lobbied the government to relax its regulations that require companies to hand over 30% ownership to black-owned businesses. 

The company has instead offered to extend free satellite internet service to 5,000 schools and provide 2.4 million students with high-speed connectivity in place of the Black ownership requirements.

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