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Elon Musk's Starlink is now live in the Central African Republic, bringing satellite internet to one of Africa's most underconnected nations and adding another country to a continental footprint that has grown rapidly over the past two years.
The launch makes CAR the 28th African market for the service and the second on the continent to go live in 2026, following Senegal in February. Musk announced the rollout on X on March 16 with a brief post tagging the company's availability map.
The commercial rollout comes three months after CAR authorities approved Starlink's license on Dec. 18, 2025, during a ceremony in Bangui presided over by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra. The Ministry of Digital Economy, Posts, and Telecommunications said at the time that Starlink would target rural and remote regions where terrestrial infrastructure remains severely limited.
The need is acute. Of CAR's roughly 5.6 million people, more than 4.8 million still lack reliable internet access, a penetration gap of about 88%, driven largely by the cost and difficulty of expanding fiber or mobile networks across remote terrain. As of January 2025, only about 839,000 individuals were using the internet in the country, with mobile connections growing by 182,000 in the previous year.
Customers can access residential service plans priced at 33,000 XAF, or approximately $57, per month. That figure sits well above reach for many. The nominal GDP per capita in CAR is estimated at approximately $516 to $531, making affordability a central challenge in a country tagged as one of the world's least developed economies. Starlink will also face competition from existing market leaders Telecel and Orange.
None of that dampened the reaction to Musk's announcement. Iranians immediately flooded the post with urgent appeals, pleading with Musk to activate Starlink's direct-to-cell technology in their country. A nationwide internet shutdown, imposed amid protests and conflict, has silenced roughly 90 million people, with internet monitors NetBlocks and Human Rights Watch tracking the blackout beyond 240 hours since it began in January 2026.
One user wrote: "Dear Elon, people in Iran need internet. The Islamic regime has shut down the internet. Starlink could be their only lifeline."
Starlink's African expansion has accelerated sharply, with the service nearly doubling its footprint from 14 countries to about 25 between 2024 and 2025 alone. Techloy Still, the continent's biggest market remains out of reach. South Africa has effectively blocked Starlink from launching due to local ownership requirements that demand at least 30% of any foreign telecom provider be held by historically disadvantaged South Africans, rules Musk has declined to comply with.
The CAR launch underscores both the scale of Starlink's ambitions in Africa and the gap between satellite connectivity as a commercial product and the humanitarian demand that follows Musk wherever he announces it.
