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Comment by Zigurd | Hacker News Reader

Africa is mostly on 4G networks, and while 3G isn't a majority of the connections, it's still the next biggest share of infrastructure, far ahead of 5G which is relatively scarce.

This is in the context of a population that really depends on mobile wireless for market information if they are farmers, and for payments. Having a mobile phone can take priority over having a flush toilet.

Starlink has both opportunities and challenges: 5G is faster and cheaper and more reliable. But mobile wireless revenue is low, so capex is low too. Combine this with a big rural population, and Starlink has a great opportunity, if they can find customers who can afford it.

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The problem is that 5G needs fiber connectivity and electricity for the towers, and this is not easily achievable in rural areas.

You certainly can use microwave backhaul links between towers, but the existing solutions don't provide nearly enough capacity to justify the 5G upgrade.

To oversimplify, 4G works in the 1 Gbit world. 5G needs 10-25 Gb.

Starlink can also be used for cell tower backhaul.

> Combine this with a big rural population, and Starlink has a great opportunity, if they can find customers who can afford it.

This is the rub. The primary market here are people whose communities aren't wealthy enough to afford infrastructure that would provide superior service (5G being a step up from satellite, and wired being a step up from that). So Starlink depends on there existing a growing population of people who aren't too poor to afford internet service in the first place, while also relying on the hope that those people don't become too wealthy to afford long-term infrastructure investments.

Individually. A village municipal link is probably within reach, though.

Village sees increased productivity, raises the wealth of the region, suddenly surrounding villages can afford it. Or, individuals get their own. I don't like giving Musk the benefit of the doubt, but the Chinese/Sears/etc. model of catering to people no one else would try to service can certainly be lucrative.

One starlink receiver, a router, and some CAT-5 wire run through the village? Seems like an opportunity for local would-be ISP entrepreneurs.

Is this allowed in Starlink's terms of service? Building a commercial service by selling a part of your antenna connection?

Is anyone in Nigeria going to care?

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