Vodacom Group, which holds a 35% stake in Safaricom, has forged a strategic partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink to deliver high-speed satellite broadband across Africa, marking a significant step toward bridging the continent’s digital divide. The agreement, announced on November 12, 2025, during the Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town, integrates Starlink’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology into Vodacom’s existing mobile network infrastructure to expand rural connectivity and enhance network performance in underserved areas.
Strategic Integration and Market Reach
Under the partnership, Vodacom will integrate Starlink’s satellite backhaul into its mobile network, accelerating coverage expansion while improving network performance in rural regions where traditional infrastructure deployment is economically unfeasible. The collaboration enables Vodacom to resell Starlink equipment and services to enterprise and small business customers across Africa, with the flexibility to create localized value propositions tailored to the unique affordability requirements of African markets.
Starlink currently operates in 25 African countries, and the partnership will extend its reach across Vodacom’s operational footprint, which includes South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, and Ethiopia. However, South Africa remains excluded from the initial rollout due to ongoing regulatory challenges, specifically concerning the country’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) requirements that mandate 30% ownership by historically disadvantaged groups.
Supporting Vision 2030 Ambitions
The Starlink partnership directly supports Vodacom’s Vision 2030 strategy, which targets growing the company’s customer base from 211.3 million to 260 million mobile subscribers and expanding financial services customers from 87.7 million to 120 million by 2030. Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub emphasized that “low-Earth orbit satellite technology will help bridge the digital divide where traditional infrastructure is not feasible, and this partnership will unlock new possibilities for the unconnected”.
The collaboration addresses a critical connectivity gap in Sub-Saharan Africa, where only 28% of the population had access to mobile internet in 2024, with rural populations 28% less likely to access mobile internet than urban counterparts. Central Africa demonstrates the largest coverage gap at 34%, while Eastern Africa exhibits the largest usage gap at 68%, highlighting the disconnect between network availability and adoption.
Enterprise-Focused Solutions
Vodacom has developed industry-specific connectivity solutions leveraging both terrestrial and satellite technologies for sectors including mining, oil and gas, agriculture, tourism, retail, and financial services. These offerings include pay-as-you-use backup internet, “100% unbreakable” connectivity for mission-critical operations, device-as-a-service models, and branch network pooling for distributed enterprises.
Chad Gibbs, Vice President of Starlink Operations at SpaceX, noted that “by collaborating with Vodacom, Starlink can deliver reliable, high-speed connectivity to even more customers, transforming lives and communities across the continent”.
Safaricom Ownership Structure
Vodacom’s strategic position as Safaricom’s majority shareholder enables the partnership’s potential extension into Kenya’s market. Vodacom owns 87.5% of Vodafone Kenya Limited, which in turn holds 39.93% of Safaricom Plc, giving Vodacom an effective 34.94% indirect interest in Safaricom. The Kenyan government maintains a 35% stake in Safaricom, while Vodafone Group retains a 5% share, with the remaining 25% held by retail and institutional investors.
This partnership positions Vodacom to accelerate connectivity expansion across its African markets while complementing its existing 4G, 5G, fibre, MPLS, microwave, and GEO satellite infrastructure portfolio, ultimately working toward universal coverage and digital inclusion across the continent.
