Insights At a Glance:
- Starlink has reopened sign-ups in Nairobi and nearby counties after a 7-month pause.
- The freeze, caused by network congestion, only affected high-density areas, not the entire country.
- With a new local ground station in Nairobi, expect faster speeds, lower latency, and better performance overall.
Starlink has officially reopened new sign-ups in Nairobi and surrounding counties, ending a seven-month service freeze that left many Kenyans — mostly in high-demand urban zones — locked out of Elon Musk’s satellite internet dream.
The suspension, which began in November 2024, was Starlink’s response to network congestion triggered by rapid uptake in areas like Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos, Kajiado, and Murang’a. These regions had maxed out available bandwidth, and Starlink hit the pause button on new sign-ups to prevent service degradation for existing customers.
Not all of Kenya was affected. Regions outside the Nairobi metro area — including my own home county of Vihiga — remained open for business. In fact, a friend of mine managed to install a Starlink Mini in Vihiga just a couple of months ago, with no hiccups whatsoever.
Why Starlink Froze Sign-Ups in Nairobi
By mid-2024, Starlink was growing too fast for its own good. Between June and September, its subscriber base more than doubled — from 8,063 to 16,786 — thanks to rising demand in underserved urban and rural areas alike. But the infrastructure hadn’t caught up. In cities like Nairobi, where sign-ups surged, bandwidth ran dry. To maintain performance, Starlink halted new residential and roaming subscriptions in congested zones, not just in Kenya, but across high-demand cities in Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as well.
What Changed Behind the Scenes
In January 2025, Starlink quietly deployed a local ground station in Nairobi, increasing bandwidth and reducing latency for Kenyan users. This move was key to unlocking new capacity and restoring access to previously “sold out” regions. With the infrastructure now upgraded, the company has resumed taking new customers in the counties that were previously shut out.
Starlink’s return to Nairobi and its environs is a big deal. Not just for the tech-savvy urbanites who’ve been locked out for months, but for Kenya’s broader internet ecosystem. It signals that infrastructure is catching up with demand, and that competition in the fixed internet space is about to get even hotter.
