Elon Musk’s Starlink has stopped onboarding new subscribers seeking to enjoy its internet services in Nairobi and its environs after a part of its client base in the city complained about the unavailability of its services.

"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,” the company explained.

The tech company directed its users to check the availability of service plans on their official website map, which shows that Nairobi is currently sold out.

Other affected places include Thika, Kajiado, Kiambu, parts of Murang'a, Naivasha, Ngong, Machakos, and sections of Narok.

“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.

Furthermore, the affordable packages that had drawn many are out of stock, with only those charging above Ksh130,000 per month available.

Starlink entered the Kenyan market in July 2023 with a promise of internet connection at low prices. The telco launched a more affordable kit and monthly plan in Kenya in September. This was just days after Safaricom, the country’s largest internet service provider, increased internet speeds across its fiber offering and restructured pricing plans to remain competitive.

Read also: Safaricom takes on Starlink with 1000Mbps Internet for power users

Limitless availability

Starlink's uptake has been impressive despite largely on account of its limitless accessibility even in regions such as North Eastern Kenya. In the rental service, one can either get the Starlink kit for KES1,950 per month or buy it at KES45,500.

Data from Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA) shows that Starlink had acquired over 8,000 customers in Kenya by June 30, 2024, which accounts for a 0.5 percent market share.

“Satellite subscriptions maintained an upward trend following the launch of Starlink services during the year, with 96.6 percent of satellite customers subscribing to speeds between 100Mbps to 1Gbps,” said Communications Authority of Kenya in its sector statistics report.

Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink, got sold out in major cities across five African countries including Zimbabwe’s capital Harare. In Nigeria, the firm saw five cities going out of service as kits ran out just weeks after the firm received regulatory approval.

Lusaka in Zambia was also sold out fast while in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, the status is labeled “expanding in 2025”, indicating that potential customers in these markets will face a longer wait time for the kits.

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