The Starlink War: Why Safaricom is Panic-Screaming

I was sitting in a small cafe along Kimathi Street yesterday. The rain was pounding the pavement outside. I had a deadline. I needed to upload a heavy file for a client in London. I checked my phone. The 5G signal was showing full bars. But here is the thing: the file was not moving. It was stuck at 12 percent for twenty minutes. I was paying for a premium data bundle. I was sitting in the heart of the capital city. Yet, I was being throttled. I felt that familiar heat of anger rising in my chest.

Kenyans have been held hostage for too long. We have been paying top shilling for speeds that would make a snail look like a sprinter. Then comes Starlink. Then comes Elon Musk with his low-earth orbit satellites. Suddenly, the big boys are sweating. I saw the news. I saw the letters being written to the Communications Authority. Our local telco giant is literally begging the government to stop the competition. I could not lie: it was the most pathetic thing I have seen in the Kenyan tech space this decade.

Think about that for a second. A company that makes billions in profit every single year is scared of a satellite dish. They are scared because they know their reign of overpriced, unreliable fiber is coming to an end. They have sat on their hands while the rest of the world moved forward. Now that someone else is offering a better deal, they want to change the rules of the game. Let that sink in.

The Monopoly is Finally Cracking

For years, we had no choice. You either dealt with the fiber provider that never picks up your calls or you used expensive mobile data. I have friends in places like Ruiru and Kinoo. They pay for 10 Mbps but they get barely 2 Mbps during peak hours. When they call support, they are told to restart their router. It is a joke. It is a calculated insult to the Kenyan consumer.

When you combine corporate greed + zero competition + a sleeping regulator, you get the current state of our internet. We have been sold “unlimited” packages that are not actually unlimited. There is always a “Fair Usage Policy” hidden in the fine print. They wait until you have used a few gigabytes and then they drop your speed to the stone age. It is a trap. I have lived through it. You have lived through it.

Now, Starlink is here. They are offering speeds that actually reach 150 Mbps. They are offering a kit that you can put on your roof in the middle of a desert and get a signal. This is not just about YouTube videos. This is about the kid in Turkana who wants to learn how to code. This is about the grandmother in Othaya who wants to video call her son in the US without the screen freezing every three seconds.

The Audacity of the CAK Letter

I read the letter Safaricom sent to the Communications Authority of Kenya. They are arguing that satellite providers should be forced to partner with local companies. They claim it is about security. They claim it is about “leveling the playing field.” Let me be clear: that is a lie. It is about protecting a monopoly. It is about making sure they can keep charging us 3,000 shillings for mediocre service.

If Safaricom wanted to level the playing field, they would have invested in better infrastructure years ago. They would have lowered their prices when they saw the economy struggling. Instead, they increased the price of data. They introduced expiry dates on bundles that we bought with our own hard-earned money. Why should data expire? If I buy a bag of sugar, does the shopkeeper come to my house and take it back after a week? No. But in the Kenyan tech world, this theft is legalized.

Kenyans need to demand that the CAK ignores these desperate cries for protectionism. We live in a global economy. If a company from outside can provide a better service at a better price, let them. That is how the market works. You either innovate or you die. Safaricom has the money to compete. They just do not want to work for our loyalty anymore. They think they own us.

Breaking the Digital Divide

Here is what needs to happen. We need to stop looking at internet access as a luxury. In 2026, internet is a human right. It is the road of the digital age. If you do not have fast internet, you are locked out of the global economy. I have seen talented artists in Kibera lose out on commissions because their upload failed. I have seen students miss online exams because their “reliable” fiber went down during a storm.

Starlink is not just a tech product. It is a tool for liberation. By bypassing the ground-level bureaucracy of digging trenches and laying cables, they have democratized access. You do not need to wait for a technician to come to your estate and tell you “there is no port available.” You just buy the kit, point it at the sky, and you are online.

Think about the impact on remote areas. We have parts of this country where the only way to get a signal is to climb a tree. Imagine a primary school in Mandera suddenly having access to the entire library of human knowledge. Imagine a hospital in Bomet being able to do remote consultations with specialists in Nairobi without lag. This is the future Safaricom wants to delay because they are worried about their quarterly dividends.

The Cost of Staying Behind

The world is moving toward AI and real-time data processing. You cannot do that on a shaky 4G connection that disappears when it rains. We need high bandwidth and low latency. Starlink provides that. The local telcos are trying to sell us 5G as the solution, but look at the coverage maps. It is only in the leafy suburbs. It is only where the rich people live.

If you live in a “low-income” area, you are stuck with 3G or a congested 4G tower. This is digital apartheid. The tech companies in Kenya have decided who deserves fast internet and who does not. They have mapped out our country based on who can pay the most, not who needs it the most. Starlink does not care where you live. The satellite is 500 kilometers up. It sees the rich man in Muthaiga and the farmer in Makueni exactly the same way.

We are tired of being told that we are “the silicon savannah” while we struggle to load a basic website. We are tired of “system upgrades” that happen in the middle of the working day. If the local providers cannot keep up, they should step aside. Do not use the government to block progress. It is embarrassing.

Data Privacy and the Big Brother Scare

The local telcos are now trying to use “security” as a weapon. They are whispering to the government that satellite internet cannot be monitored. They want you to be afraid. They want the government to think that Starlink is a threat to national security. But let us be honest. They just want the government to be able to shut down the internet whenever they feel like it.

We saw what happened during the protests. We saw the internet disruptions. When the government controls the switches at the local ISP, they control the narrative. Satellite internet makes it much harder to silence a population. That is the real reason the elites are scared. They are losing the “kill switch.”

I want my data to be safe. But I also want my internet to be free from political interference. When you combine local surveillance + corporate monopolies, the consumer always loses. We need options. If one provider is being bullied by the state, we need to be able to switch to another that is beyond their reach. That is what true digital resilience looks like.

The Future is Overhead

I am looking at the prices of the Starlink kits. They have been dropping. In some months, you could get a kit for 30,000 shillings or even less. Compare that to the cost of installing some fiber connections in rural areas. It is a no-brainer. Even the monthly subscription is becoming competitive with the “high-end” fiber packages.

The local companies are now trying to “upgrade” their speeds for free. Have you noticed? Suddenly, your 20 Mbps is now 40 Mbps. Why now? Why did they not do it two years ago? It is because they were lazy. They were comfortable. They were eating our money while giving us crumbs. Only the threat of Elon Musk made them move.

This is why competition is good. Even if you do not buy Starlink, you are benefiting from its presence. It is forcing the local giants to actually work for their money. But we must not let them win the regulatory battle. If they succeed in banning or crippling satellite internet, those “free upgrades” will disappear. We will go right back to the dark ages of buffering and “Okoa Data.”

What We Must Demand

We cannot sit back and watch this play out in boardrooms. We are the ones who pay the bills. We are the ones who use the service. Our voices must be louder than the lobbyists in Nairobi. The tech landscape in Kenya is at a crossroads. We either choose to be a modern, open economy, or we choose to protect old-fashioned monopolies.

Here is what needs to happen:

1. Kenyans need to demand that the Communications Authority rejects any proposal that limits satellite internet competition. Competition is a right, not a privilege.
2. We must stop falling for the “local partnership” trap. If a local company is forced into the deal, they will just add a markup and provide no value. It is just another way to tax the consumer.
3. The government must lower the taxes on internet equipment. The import duties on satellite kits are too high. If they want a digital economy, they should make the tools affordable for everyone.
4. Support the disruptors. If you can afford it, vote with your wallet. Switch to the service that respects you as a consumer.

The era of the “King Telco” is over. I am tired of the excuses. I am tired of the letters. I am tired of the buffering. I want to live in a Kenya where the internet is as reliable as the sun. We are not there yet, but for the first time in a long time, I can see the signal. It is coming from the stars, and no amount of corporate whining is going to stop it.