Starlink to power MTN Uganda services in hard-to-reach areas

MTN Uganda will use Starlink’s satellite network to deliver internet to business customers in remote and underserved parts of the country, under a partnership that formalises a tie-up the operator first signalled in May and deepens a wider industry shift towards low-Earth-orbit connectivity.

The agreement adds Starlink’s satellite capability to MTN Uganda’s enterprise solutions portfolio, giving business clients an alternative where fibre and mobile infrastructure is limited or too costly to deploy. The company said the initial offer would target sectors that depend on reliable connectivity for service delivery, including education, healthcare, agriculture, humanitarian response, energy, tourism, financial services and government.

Sylvia Mulinge, MTN Uganda’s chief executive, said the deal strengthened the operator’s ability to serve customers “beyond the reach of conventional infrastructure” and aligned with MTN Group’s wider satellite roadmap. The company framed the partnership as part of an ambition to extend connectivity “to everyone, everywhere” — a claim that, as with similar operator statements, is not independently verified.

The Uganda agreement is enterprise-focused, meaning it targets fixed connectivity for institutions and businesses rather than the direct-to-phone service that rivals are testing. It forms part of MTN Group’s broader strategy of using low-Earth-orbit satellites as a complementary layer to terrestrial networks, a model the group has already pursued through enterprise-grade trials in Rwanda and Nigeria and deals in Zambia and South Sudan.

Following a licence and a rival

The tie-up follows Uganda’s approval of Starlink’s entry into the market. Ugandan authorities cleared Starlink to operate in mid-May after more than a year of regulatory scrutiny and security assessments, with conditions that reportedly included establishing a national internet gateway and maintaining a local presence.

MTN’s move also comes after its main competitor got there first on the consumer side. Airtel Uganda announced in May that it had secured regulatory approval and begun testing Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell service — a technology that turns satellites into orbiting cell towers, letting ordinary smartphones connect directly for texts, calls and eventually data in areas without network coverage. That agreement stems from an Airtel Africa deal with Starlink covering all 14 markets in which the group operates.

MTN Uganda chairman Charles Mbire had earlier made the commercial logic plain, saying satellite links would help the operator meet nationwide coverage obligations in places where building masts made no economic sense. “There are places, such as some of the islands on Lake Victoria, where we are supposed to have network presence, but it doesn’t make economic sense,” he said, adding that Starlink would let MTN deliver service there without matching capital spending.

The stakes are set by Uganda’s low connectivity base. Internet penetration stood at only about 9% of the population in 2024 on World Bank and ITU-based estimates, leaving more than 90% without regular access. MTN Uganda, which reports more than 16 million subscribers and runs the country’s largest 4G and 5G network, is concentrated mainly in urban centres, leaving rural and island communities as the clearest gap the satellite deal is meant to fill.

Across the continent, mobile operators that once viewed Starlink as a threat are increasingly treating it as a partner for coverage they cannot profitably build themselves. Whether that translates into affordable access for ordinary users, rather than only well-resourced institutions able to meet enterprise pricing, will determine how far the partnership narrows Uganda’s digital divide.