The Global South’s digital future must not belong to Bezos and Musk

Amazon's satellite internet service, Project Kuiper, is set to enter the African market, with its Leo service expected to launch in South Africa in 2027. Partnering with Herotel, the country's largest fixed internet provider, Amazon aims to extend connectivity to homes and businesses beyond the reach of traditional networks. This move marks Leo's first such agreement in Africa, targeting rural communities and farming areas where conventional infrastructure is costly to deploy.

The expansion by Amazon occurs amidst the rapid growth of satellite internet services like Starlink, operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX. As of March, Starlink served over 10 million subscribers across 164 countries, demonstrating significant expansion in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. While these services promise to bring coverage to underserved regions, concerns remain about the affordability for poorer households and the potential for communities to become dependent on foreign corporations that control critical digital infrastructure.

“

Satellite services could bring coverage to underserved regions, but whether poorer households can afford them remains uncertain. Yet the promise of universal connectivity carries a deeper risk: The communities brought online by these services may become dependent on foreign corporations that control the infrastructure on which their economies and public life increasingly rely.

Internet access profoundly shapes opportunities for education, work, trade, and political participation. Network owners wield considerable influence, dictating operational areas, pricing, and access conditions. The article points to Starlink's temporary defiance of a Brazilian order to block X (formerly Twitter) as an example of the leverage private companies can gain through essential networks. This leverage is amplified by the fact that both Amazon and SpaceX are integrated into the U.S. national security apparatus, with SpaceX handling national security launch contracts and Amazon Web Services providing classified cloud services to U.S. defense agencies.

Entrusting these companies with essential networks in developing countries could inadvertently extend American strategic power into their economies and daily lives. The article highlights that 96 percent of the world's 2.2 billion offline individuals reside in low- and middle-income countries, with internet penetration in Africa standing at just 36 percent, and 21 percent in rural areas. Fixed broadband remains prohibitively expensive in many low-income nations. While satellite networks can reach neglected areas, they do not solve the fundamental issues of data, device, and electricity costs, as seen with Starlink's significant price increase in Nigeria.

“

Amazon and SpaceX are embedded in the national security infrastructure of the United States. ... Entrusting them with essential networks across poorer countries would extend American strategic power into their economies, institutions and daily lives.