SpaceX’s Starlink Licensed in Sierra Leone

Key Highlights

• After a year of approval, Starlink’s operation is now available in Sierra Leone.
• Sierra Leone has become the 100th country connected by Starlink’s operations

In June 2023, Sierra Leone became the fifth African country to grant Spacex’s Starlink an operational license. At the time, David Moinina Sengeh, the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education and Chief Innovation Officer of Sierra Leone, announced via his X page that the country had approved the operations of Starlink services. He emphasised that this approval marks a significant step forward in achieving the goal of universal connectivity across Sierra Leone and transforming education. 

In a personal engagement, the government’s Chief Minister and former Education Minister, Sengeh, revealed in May 2024 that he had met with senior staff of Starlink a in Texas. Accompanied by another minister and a director general of the country’s National Communications Authority (NaTCA), who joined remotely, the meeting paved the way for the Internet connectivity service to go live a month.

The expansion of SpaceX Starlink’s services was also highlighted on X (formerly known as Twitter) by Elon Musk, who announced that Starlink had reached a significant milestone by being available in 100 countries and connecting over three million users globally. This expansion underscores SpaceX Starlink’s commitment to increasing global internet access and supports Sierra Leone’s efforts to integrate advanced digital solutions into its infrastructure.