Morocco Lags Behind as Starlink Expands Across Africa

In Africa, the Starlink service is available in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo or Malawi, but also Benin, Mozambique, Rwanda, Botswana or Sierra Leone, which consider it as a primary instrument to improve essential public services: tele-education, telemedicine, digital coverage of local administration. Countries facing critical security situations, such as Niger or Somalia, have also authorized this service on which they are counting to serve sensitive or isolated areas.

For now, Morocco is not yet following this continental dynamic. According to a report, the kingdom has still not granted authorization to the space operator and does not appear on any public launch schedule. No public statement from the National Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ANRT) has been made in this regard so far. According to Barlamane, several factors could explain this Moroccan reserve. The publication estimates that the arrival of a foreign satellite player, not subject to the classic obligations imposed on local operators (particularly in terms of territorial coverage, interconnection, taxation or traffic control), could disrupt the economic balances of the sector.

Other factors: the "extra-terrestrial nature of the service, deployed without local ground infrastructure, which makes its legal and technical framework more complex", as well as the strategic implications of such direct access to the national radio spectrum by a foreign entity, without local institutional relay.