{"id":21181,"date":"2025-12-16T18:14:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T16:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/airtel-africa-teams-up-with-starlink-to-launch-direct-to-cell-service-in-14-markets\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:32:19","slug":"airtel-africa-teams-up-with-starlink-to-launch-direct-to-cell-service-in-14-markets","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/airtel-africa-teams-up-with-starlink-to-launch-direct-to-cell-service-in-14-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"Airtel Africa teams up with Starlink to launch direct-to-cell service in 14 markets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The satellite-to-mobile service will begin across Africa in 2026, with data for select applications and text messaging, Airtel Africa said in a statement. Airtel Africa customers with compatible smartphones in regions without terrestrial coverage will have network connectivity through Starlink.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The deal also includes &#8220;support for Starlink&#8217;s first broadband Direct to Cell system, with next-generation satellites that will be capable of providing high-speed connectivity to smartphones with 20x improved data speed,&#8221; Airtel Africa said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Kyivstar, Ukraine&#8217;s largest mobile operator, became the first in Europe to launch Starlink&#8217;s direct-to-cell satellite technology in a bid to keep millions connected amid wartime blackouts and disrupted infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21182,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-21181","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Airtel Africa said on Tuesday it has partnered with SpaceX to introduce Starlink's direct-to-cell satellite technology to all its 14 markets.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Airtel Africa said on Tuesday it has partnered with SpaceX to introduce Starlink's direct-to-cell satellite technology to all its 14 markets.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24949,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21181\/revisions\/24949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=21181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}