IT appears Starlink will definitely be coming to Zimbabwe, one way or the other.
Looking out for Starlink to be licensed to operate in the country, especially when we got to the Q4 2023 they had promised us they would be here. Former ICT Minister Muswere says Starlink submitted an application but the current Minister says they are yet to apply.
We don’t know what to believe anymore. The good news is that it appears we won’t have to worry about that whole issue. Starlink will be officially and legally available in Zimbabwe even without a licence. How? – you ask, through partnerships of course.
Dandemutande partners Starlink
Here are the words of Dandemutande COO, Ignatius Mpando, as captured on video here,
Starlink has launched disruptive technology like we indicated. And as a business I’m sure you also understand that we provide services through strategic partnerships with other players, ….. and it’s no different to Starlink.
In fact, for the record, we have signed an agreement with Starlink to be able to resell their services in the country. So, in addition to what we currently extend to the market. In the event that someone prefers to be on the Starlink service, we will be able to extend that through that partnership.
We have to note that the video could have been tampered with to make Mpando seem to be saying what he never said. Dandemutande has not communicated this news via official channels. However, the video looks legit and it supports what we had gathered before.
The man says “For the record,” so it seems legit. We had gotten that information before but it was still on the hush-hush. They are now going live with the information, apparently.
We have reached out to Dandemutande to get more information on the deal and what it will look like to us regular folk. We will update you once when we have more to share.
I love that Dandemutande has secured this partnership but I sincerely hope it is not an exclusive deal. I hope other players are free to approach Starlink and come into the same kind of “reseller partnership.” That way, they would all have to add a nominal extra fee to both the kit price and the subscriptions.
Let’s be honest, all most of you care about is how much will it cost. In Zambia for example it’s – $30 (ZW771) per month for subscriptions and $423 for the kit. If Dandemutande plays in that range then we would be golden.
We’ll hash it all out when we have more information but for now, you need to cancel that Nyanga trip, return that Johnny Walker bottle and save up for Starlink. It’s finally coming, for real this time.
Source: TechZim
