American satellite internet service provider Starlink has explained the reason behind the suspension of new subscriptions to its internet services in Nairobi and six other counties.
According to reports, the suspension in the seven areas is due to a network overload.
Earlier, residents of Nairobi raised concerns about the Company failing to provide residential, business, and ROAM service plans.
The Company owned by Tech billionaire Elon Musk said its network capacity is full and cannot contain more users.
“Nairobi and neighbouring areas are currently at network capacity. This means that too many users are trying to access the Starlink service within Nairobi and there isn’t enough bandwidth to support additional residential or roaming customers at this time,” Starlink said.
Evan Vucci/The Associated Press.
Starlink roaming services are not available and the team is working to restore services in affected areas.
Customers will receive notifications once the services are back in their respective areas.
“No roaming plans are available in Kenya at this time. Starlink is working to restore service in the disrupted areas and a notification will be sent once the residential plan is back,” Starlink added.
Other affected areas include Thika, Kajiado, Kiambu, parts of Murang’a, Naivasha, Ngong, Machakos and sections of Narok. In General, seven counties were affected.
Further, Starlink said the affordable packages were sold out and only those charging above Ksh130,000 per month were available.
Starlink Suspends New Subscriptions in Africa
Reports indicate that that Starlink has stopped sales of its roaming plans in all African countries.
The Kenya Times referred to Starlink’s its roaming subscription options on Monday, November 4 and established that the company had removed African countries from the list.
The service currently shows as “Sold Out” for new residential customers in large cities like Harare in Zimbabwe, Lusaka in Zambia, Nairobi in Kenya, and Lagos in Nigeria.
Also Read: New Twist in Safaricom vs Starlink Rivalry as CEO Hints at Partnership
Customers in these areas report download speeds averaging in the low double-digit Mbps, which falls far below Starlink’s advertised speeds.
Stellar Systems, an authorized Starlink retailer in Zambia, warns that users misusing the roam plans in unofficially supported countries could trigger a permanent shutdown of the roaming feature.
“We can only hope this is not the case and will update you as soon as we get some feedback from Starlink regarding this,” the company said.
Also Read: Safaricom vs Starlink: Why Another Company Wants to Join Ongoing Case
List of Countries Available for Roaming Subscriptions
The list of countries and territories listed in the roaming subscriptions includes: Albania, American Samoa, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Haiti, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland and Isle of Man, Italy
Others are Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Micronesia, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Samoa, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Virgin Islands, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vanuatu, and Yemen.
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