I followed the development of the Starlink technology right from the beginning with a keen interest. My interest was firstly picked because I’m primarily a techie and any new technology is cool. Secondly, I have entrepreneurial ventures. They depend on having a good internet connection at every point of presence in our network. Starlink for me, presented an incredible opportunity to get fairly priced internet bandwidth at a very low set up cost. And for these two reasons, I’m addicted to the technology.

My interests in Starlink led me into several points along the supply chain of Starlink Internet. At all the points I found myself at, I was asked several questions. Some I answered right from the top of my head. Some required me to go online and research. And so, I have decided to crystallize all these questions in an article. Once read through, it leaves a layman with enough knowledge to converse intelligibly on the topic: Starlink.

What is Starlink?

Starlink is made up of three distinct parts. Starlink in space is a bunch of satellites that wrap earth and rotate around it. Imagine bugs around a bulb in the dark, the bulb being earth and the bugs being the thousand of satellites.

Starlink on earth is a satellite dish that faces the sky and converses with the satellites in space exchanging data.

The third part of the network are ground stations. They are bigger satellites that are connected to the internet via fiber. These ground stations communicate with the space satellites. These ground stations connect the Starlink network to the internet. These three parts make up the Starlink network. They connect millions of people to the internet in every part of the world.

Starlink Kits

Starlink Mini Kit

Starlink kits come in various sizes and forms. Each kit is designed for a particular user’s needs. The most popular in Africa is the Starlink Mini Kit. This is a portable Starlink kit which can be used at home or on the go. It has a built in router (modem). It allows up to 32 devices to connect. It can have speeds of above 100 megabytes per second, which is enough for most use cases.

Starlink Standard Kit

The Standard Kit is the bigger version of the consumer grade kits and is most suitable in fixed use cases. It has an external router (Modem) and can be used by up to 80 devices without a strain. It can get speeds of above 300 megabytes per second depending on location. The Standard Kit is now on the 3rd generation but both the first and second generation still work well.

Starlink High Performance Kit

Starlink has several other high performance kits specialized for different use cases like airplanes, ships and mobile networks providers.

A more interesting “kit” is every smartphone. Starlink promises that soon, your smartphone will talk directly to the satellites in space. It will bypass the satellite dish on earth. This is an interesting use case. Since it has just launched in select areas for now, we leave it for later posts.

Standard Kit vs Mini

Most households are not heavy users, even with two or three televisions streaming Netflix continuously. A Starlink Mini Kit can handle such workloads easily. It should rightfully be used for this. The Starlink Mini has no router. Depending on the area it has to cover, one might need to extend the WiFi signal coverage area. Use wired or wireless extenders to achieve this. These can be purchased in most tech shops and are mostly, plug and play. The Starlink Mini comes with a pole mount and a kickstand. This makes it easy to mount on a pole. You can also set it up on the ground.

The Starlink Standard Kit is best suited for commercial use in areas were heavy usage is expected. Its a power horse which gives a good connection which rivals fiber connections in many countries around the world. Its external router improves coverage indoors. Yet, for commercial use, you need an entire network. This ensures signal strength is good in all key areas. In this scenario, the Standard kit becomes a backbone replacement in the network. The Starlink Standard Kit comes with a kickstand in the box. To mount on the pole, one can buy an adapter.

All kits need a direct view of the open sky. They need alignment in a certain position. This ensures the best connection with the space satellites. Thankfully the Starlink Mobile Application has built in tools to make the setup of these very easy.

Capacity

A common term often dropped in the Starlink conversation is capacity. Starlink satellites in space have a capped number of satellites on the ground they can communicate with. This communication occurs at the same time. At any given time, a Starlink space satellite is communicating with Starlink satellites on earth in a given unit area. After reaching the highest number of kits on Earth’s surface in a unit area, quality of service declines. Adding more kits in that area further degrades the service quality. Starlink has a map which show the state of capacity around the world.

To avoid this, Starlink stops allowing activation of kits in a unit area after the utmost number is reached. It informs prospective subscribers that their area is now at capacity. To get out of maxing capacity, Starlink continuously deploys more space satellites multiple times a week to increase capacity. Starlink has close to 10 000 satellites but expects to deploy just above 40 000 satellites at its peak. This exercise means areas go in and out of capacity. As more capacity opens up, it is filled by prospective subscribers.

Harare has been out of capacity for the better part of the year. The capacity was filled up nearly two months after Starlink was authorized to run in Zimbabwe. Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, had its capacity maxed out a short time after. It was later reopened this year. A new activation fee was added to first registration as a bottleneck to reduce capacity maxing out. Albeit, users in Harare have found a way around this capacity problem and this is discussed further below.

Where to buy Starlink?

Now that you have enough knowledge to take the leap, how do you go about getting a kit for yourself? The easiest way to get a Starlink in areas with capacity is via the Starlink website. When you buy from the website, you register and activate the kit during the buy. This makes it plug and play when you get it. You can’t buy an unregistered kit directly on Starlink which is what you need to do the roaming workaround.

Starlink Retailer

Starlink has two types of distribution partnerships. The first type is known as a retailer. Retailers have direct access to the Starlink system and can pretty much do anything Starlink support can do. Retailers can create customized packages to suit their clients and mostly focus on selling business packages. They buy capacity in bulk from Starlink then resell it at their own pricing to downstream users. In Zimbabwe, retailers include,  Aura, Dandemutande, Telone and Frampol.

Starlink Reseller

The second type of distribution partnership is a reseller. A reseller distributes Starlink hardware only. They buy hardware in bulk from Starlink and resell it to prospective customers as blank (inactivated kits) to users. These kits offer an opportunity to be used anywhere in the world. These resellers also onboard their own agents to further distribute kits to downstream users. Reseller kits are on demand in areas out of capacity or countries where Starlink has not yet officially been regularized. In Zimbabwe, Shona Prince Technologies is the sole reseller. They have expanded to many African countries across the continent.

To decide from whom to buy the kit, you must analyze the circumstances. Consider the situations under which you want to use the kit. In areas with capacity, buying on the website is the simplest choice. Usually,  the kit is delivered in under a week. For areas at capacity, you need to buy your kit from a reseller or a reputable agent. The same applies to those in countries with Starlink restrictions. Businesses can buy their kits from retailers who offer managed Starlink services. These retailers can change the package to suit your business requirements.

Starlink Subscription Packages

To connect to the internet, the Starlink Kit needs power and a clear view of the sky. It also requires a paid subscription on a monthly basis. Starlink prices are not universal across earth and are guided by each country’s ISP regulatory body. The result is a maze of prices which can be hard to comprehend at a global scale. Though the prices differ, the packages are almost similar. There are a few tweaks here and there. Overall, there is a pattern to the craziness.

Residential Packages

We will use Zimbabwe as a case study to understand the pricing. The base packages for Starlink are the residential packages. These are split between two types, the lite and the normal package. In Zimbabwe, the residential lite costs US$30 while the normal costs $50. The difference is in speeds, so says Starlink, but to most users, this difference is not so perceptible.

Business Packages

The enterprise packages are sold by Starlink and also by Starlink Retailers. These packages include Priority Bundles, capped to a specific bandwidth amount, before switching to ordinary packages. For example, there is a 40 GB priority package. It reverts to the ordinary package once it runs out. This occurs before the monthly subscription has run out. Priority means that your data is prioritized on the network, an essential feature for mission critical connectivity requirements.

Roaming Packages

The last type of package is the roaming package. This package lets you use a kit in different locations. Other packages are fixed and can be used only within a radius of 5 km from the activation location. It introduces a new use case. A Starlink kit is retrofitted to a vehicle, providing connectivity while on the go. It lets you connect to the Starlink kit anywhere in the world. This feature is quite handy for tourists. It is also beneficial for business users who are always moving between different locations.

Starlink-On-The-Go

Starlink on the go serves an internet connection for users in motion. This includes users in airplanes, ships and on land vehicles. Packages are bundled as roaming or business mobility. Nonetheless, they are sold in a granular format. This format includes maritime for use on water and land mobility used on the land. The airplane packages are sold directly by Starlink and not much has been disclosed with regards to that. Airplanes need specialized hardware sold by Starlink directly. Only selected engineers carry out the fitting due to the nature of the aerospace industry.

In Zimbabwe, a popular on-the-go use case is mostly seen with Tap and Go taxis. On-demand ride hailing services have retrofitted every vehicle in their fleet with a Starlink kit. Private citizens can achieve the same by purchasing vehicle mount accessories and cables. This mounting method is not permanent and the kit can be fitted and removed at will. Intercity bus companies have started installing Starlink kits on their buses. These installations offer passengers with free Internet access on the go.

Downstream business opportunities

The availability of Starlink internet has created many business opportunities. Most opportunities revolve around selling bandwidth in one way or another. Most have gone for the low hanging opportunity of WiFi hotspots were access is controlled and capped at a price. The setup to do this depends on the tech skill of the entrepreneur. This technology has evolved the traditional internet cafe business. It pushes towards Bring Your Own Device models and removes the need for physical infrastructure.

Starlink Kit Rental is another upcoming model. Kits are rented out on demand on a daily basis. This is ideal for individuals who seek internet connection for a set period.

Another downstream industry that has gained much publicity is Starlink installation. Starlink has priced mounting hardware exorbitantly forcing its users to source for mounting solutions locally. Local artisans create mounting poles while handyman focus on the installation. Chinese factory shops are rolling out Starlink mounting adapters and fast thinking businesses are importing them for resell.

The advent of Starlink has created a lot of business opportunities. This trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

The Grey Area

Starlink is not legal entirely all over earth. They can only do business in a country in which they have been granted an ISP license. This creates a gray area because technically, Starlink works anywhere in the world. In countries where it is not permitted, users register kits using a location from a licensed country. They use the roaming package here. This work around has also been used by users in areas where capacity has been filled. The kit works perfectly, but there is a temporary service suspension every two months. The kit gets restricted, requesting one to take it back to its registered country. Still, another work around has been discovered to reset the kit. Turning the kit off for 48 hours reverses the suspension and the kit gets back online for another two months. The nature of the kit makes it difficult for countries to regulate without a Starlink intervention. In Zimbabwe, Starlink was used for a year before it became regularized. This has been the case with South Africa as well.

The dawn of global ISP

The Starlink business model has upset the once calm telecommunications industry. Before Starlink, the telecommunications industry was a very closed, heavily regulated field. It required a company to build a significant presence. The company also had to regularize with local authorities before they can start servicing clients. The dawn of Starlink has changed the landscape. Many enterprises including Kuiper from Amazon and other Chinese companies have started building their own global ISP networks. The industry will not be the same again and ISP have to rethink their entire business models to stay competitive. Starlink is offering an olive branch by partnering with incumbent telecommunication companies to bring about their direct to cell service.

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Schneider Shayne