Dandemutande hosted a media engagement event on the 20th of December 2023 and as part of the QnA session, they announced that they officially signed an agreement with Starlink to bring the service into Zimbabwe. In a video captured by 3MOB, this is what the COO of Dandemutande said.
For the record, we have signed an agreement with Starlink to be able to resell their services in the country. So in adition to what we currently extend to the market, in the event that someone prefers Starlink service, we [Dandemutande] will be able to extend that through that partnership.
Ignatius Mpando – Dandemutande COO
This does not mean the service is now approved in Zimbabwe
Starlink is still yet to get a licence to operate in the country according to the National Regulation Authority POTRAZ. So what seems to be the case with Starlink and Dandemutande is Starlink recognizing the Telecoms operator as a recognised reseller of their services. This means once Starlink has approval to operate in the country, purchasing the hardware and support for the hardware will be provided by Dandemutande.
What is not clear is why Starlink is not riding on Dandemutande’s operator licence to be operating in the country. According to POTRAZ, for a business wishing to provide telecommunications services in the country, they need to either apply for an operator licence as a standalone operator or ride under the licence of an existing operator through an agreement with the operator.
Regardless, this is the first official bit of information towards Starlink’s entry into the Zimbabwean market which gives a bit more confidence to it only being a matter of time until it’s officially available.
Starlink’s African progress in 2023
Starlink has made a lot of progress with activations in 2023. A total of 6 countries went live which include Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya, Zambia, Benin and very recently, Eswatini.
| Country | Cost of the kit | Monthly Subscriptions |
| Nigeria | $379.47 | $24.40 |
| Rwanda | $456.69 | $38.32 |
| Kenya | $580.18 | $42.37 |
| Malawi | $343.27 | $30.90 |
| Zambia | $440.48 | $31.61 |
| Mozambique | $634.24 | $46.99 |
| Eswatini | $649.35 | $67.64 |
Starlink is slating Zimbabwe availability at Q3 of 2024, a date that has been pushed back several times now from the Q2 2023 that was there on the availability map at the start of the year. The licencing process is chief amongst the reasons behind the delay. One would think this might then be news that can fast-track the process of the service making its way officially into the country.
