“Thanks to satellite constellations, humanity now has the technical ability to provide internet connection anywhere on Earth. The biggest remaining barriers are political; many governments don’t want their citizens to enjoy unfettered access to the internet, or for their domestic service providers to have to compete with foreign firms. In Argentina, where such a ban was recently lifted, two million people have connected to Starlink, many of whom live in remote areas of the country,” reports The Doomslayer.
“When Javier Milei became president of Argentina in December 2023, one his first measures as part of a package of wide-ranging deregulations was to open up the economy to satellite internet. (I wrote about that and his broader deregulatory push here.)….satellite internet use exploded once the government lifted its ban, which had, until then, benefited a politically powerful local internet provider.”
Expanding internet access makes medical diagnosis easier. “The roll-out across Africa of Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service could help speed the adoption of telehealth services on the continent,” reported the London Telegraph:
The tech tycoon’s satellite internet offering has been launched in 15 African nations since the start of 2023, bringing reliable high-speed internet to previously unconnected remote areas. Its arrival has also led some local providers to respond with a price war, cutting costs for users to compete with the satellite arm of Mr Musk’s SpaceX venture.
Starlink could now help boost online telehealth services which give patients consultations and treatment remotely online…Zimbabwe earlier this year became one of the latest countries to give Starlink a green light. Tawanda Njerere, co-founder and chief operations officer of the ZimSmart Villages initiative, said he was now using Starlink to connect patients to its BatsiHealth online health platform: “Starlink provides the fast, low-latency connectivity that virtual consultations need for real-time telepresence on BatsiHealth. Our doctors can conduct video consultations with near in-person clarity, seeing fine visual details essential for accurate diagnoses.”
Starlink delivers high-speed internet through a constellation of thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites that SpaceX started deploying in 2019 at a height of about 300 miles above the planet…Starlink’s website says its connections are sold out in many major African cities, including Nairobi, Abuja, Accra, Lusaka and Harare.
Willard Shoko, a Starlink researcher and consultant, predicted that Starlink’s presence in Zimbabwe could revolutionise its health sector though more ground stations were needed to boost services. He said: “When you connect hospitals and clinics to high-speed internet, it means that doctors from anywhere in the world can collaborate. This can be the difference between a life being saved and a life being lost.”
Internet usage has more than doubled in Africa, making mobile payments, online learning, and more economic activity possible.
Kenyan farmers are using artificial intelligence to grow more food. Kenya plans to build its first nuclear power plant. Drones are being used to fight malaria and save lives in western Kenya.
The African nation of Chad experiences periodic internet blackouts, such as after a recent flood, which cut off internet access for weeks. Chad’s economic development has been delayed by decades of civil war and by its being a landlocked country in an impoverished region.
