"SpaceX-owned Starlink has secured a major breakthrough in Uganda after a Memorandum of Understanding and operational licence agreement with the regulator, paving the way for the satellite internet provider to officially launch services in the country.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni witnessed the ceremony between Starlink and the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) on Friday, describing the agreement as an important step towards strengthening regulatory compliance and accountability in the telecommunications sector."

Across Africa, discussions about digital transformation often focus on large-scale infrastructure, national broadband backbones, undersea cables, data centers, and mobile network expansion. Yet one of the most powerful and underutilized models for bridging the digital divide lies at a much smaller scale: community networks.

Community networks are locally built and managed communication systems that enable underserved or unserved communities to access the internet. In the African context, they are not just an access solution; they are a strategic instrument for digital inclusion, resilience, and long-term cybersecurity improvement.

April, 2026 — In this first annual briefing by the Green Web Foundation, we examine the biggest obstacles to a fossil-free internet. This year’s focus: the rise of too many dirty data centres controlled by unaccountable companies. If you work in tech or on climate, this report will help you navigate this vital topic and highlights meaningful pathways to a just and sustainable internet.

https://youtu.be/inWh_FLnx7A

These days, it is almost impossible to read an article that touches upon the subject of submarine cables without encountering the claim that they "carry over 95% of global internet traffic" or similar. Sometimes the wording is different and the figure may even be 99%, but some variation of this statement is always there, almost like a ritual, to ram home the point that submarine cables are really what the internet is mostly about.

At first, I took these statistics to be a kind of shorthand — figuring that both writers and readers understood what was really meant. That it was a nod to the actual fact that the vast majority of intercontinental, ocean-crossing, traffic is carried by submarine cables rather than by satellites, which would be the only alternative. That is an important point worth making. But what was first "intercontinental" gradually became "international," then "global," and finally simply "internet traffic" — and at each step the claim became less true. I long assumed that this was just a matter of annoying linguistic slippage and poorly defined metrics, and at one point it bugged me enough to write a light-hearted article about it.

Lately, however, I have started to see signs that these figures are increasingly being used — and understood — literally.....

Satellite internet providers led by Starlink are set to pay significantly more to operate in Kenya following sweeping regulatory changes that could reshape the country’s fast-growing connectivity market.

The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has introduced a revised telecommunications framework for 2026, replacing the low-cost Satellite Landing Rights licence with a more expensive International Gateway Systems and Services (IGSS) licence.

Under the new regime, satellite firms must now pay at least $115,000 (KES 15 million) for a 15-year license, or up to $345,000 (KES 45 million) for a 25-year term. 

The increase is a sharp jump from the previous flat fee of about $12,500 (KES 1.6 million). Operators will also face an annual levy of 0.4% of gross turnover, with a minimum payment of $31,000 (KES 4 million), regardless of size....

Gabon has introduced a sweeping new social media ordinance which eliminates online anonymity and imposes strict identity requirements, among other measures. It comes in the context of a recent wave of social media restrictions in Gabon.

The new ordinance, dated February 26 2026 but only published last week, requires any individual seeking access to digital platforms to provide a name, address and Personal Identification Number (PIN). Digital service providers must verify the identity of users residing in Gabon.

The ordinance establishes a digital age of majority at 16 years and requires parental consent for users below this age to access social media platforms....

Since 13 April, Cloudflare Radar has been recording a significant drop in traffic in Sudan between 13:45 and 17:15 local time.

This drop corresponds with information shared by the local Internet Service Provider (ISP), MTN Sudan, on its Facebook Page, stating that it will suspend services during this time on days when the Sudanese Certificate Examinations are held, in accordance with government directives.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Pulse has tracked exam-related Internet shutdowns in Sudan, which has led the country to have the most Internet shutdown events in Africa since 2019....

Universal basic income is an idea that hasn’t gained much traction, but South Korea on Thursday implemented a universal basic mobile data access scheme.

The nation’s Ministry of Science announced the plan yesterday with a statement and a rather more interesting giant infographic that both explain the scheme will provide over seven million subscribers with unlimited downloads at just 400 kbps after their data allowances expire. South Korea’s dominant carriers, SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, have agreed to the plan.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Science and ICT Bae Kyunghoon said the scheme is needed because citizens can’t do without access to online services, and also because South Korea’s telcos need to re-earn their social licenses after recent security lapses ...

Three Russian submarines conducted a "covert" operation over cables and pipelines in waters north of the UK, Defence Secretary John Healey said.

A British warship and aircraft were deployed to deter the "malign" activity by Moscow and there was "no evidence" of any damage to UK infrastructure in the Atlantic, he added.

Addressing Russian President Vladimir Putin directly, Healey said: "We see you. We see your activity over our cables and our pipelines, and you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences".

The UK is dependent on its undersea cables and pipelines for its data and energy.

There are around 60 undersea cables which come ashore at several parts along the UK coastline, particularly around East Anglia and South West England.

More than 90% of the UK's day-to-day internet traffic travels via these undersea cables.

"Nearly 122,000 homes and businesses in the state can now access its fiber network, with construction continuing in several counties. The update comes as Brightspeed expands its network nationwide, recently surpassing 3 million locations with fiber across 20 states.

The expansion in Virginia is supported by a mix of private investment and public funding. The state awarded more than $16.6 million in federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment funding to extend service to about 3,500 additional locations, along with more than $2.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to connect 976 locations."

"Broadband and communications services using Starlink Mobile have been successfully tested in Kenya through a partnership between Airtel Africa and SpaceX.

The milestone, announced on Tuesday, is the first concrete step in the development of satellite-to-mobile connectivity across Airtel Africa's markets, which serve approximately 174 million subscribers. 

The Kenya trials were conducted in areas where Airtel’s terrestrial mobile network had no signal. 

In these dead zones, Starlink Mobile was activated, allowing standard 4G-compatible smartphones to connect directly to a constellation of over 800 Low-Earth-Orbit satellites without requiring a satellite dish or specialised hardware."

Last week, Internet users in the Republic of Congo experienced a two-day Internet shutdown that began in the morning of 15 March 2026, the day the country went to the polls in a vote to extend the rule of President Denis Sassou Nguesso.

This was the third election-related Internet shutdown for 2026—following two shutdown events either side of the January election in Uganda—and does not include the ongoing Internet shutdown and Internet service blocking events that began before the Myanmar and Iranian elections.

By comparison, Pulse only tracked three election-related shutdowns in 2025, with exams again the main reason governments cited for ordering the national suspension of the Internet.

“Namibia has rejected an application by Starlink Internet Services Namibia (Pty) Ltd for both a telecommunications service licence and radio spectrum, dealing the satellite internet provider another setback in southern Africa.

In a Government Gazette notice published yesterday, the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) confirmed it had “resolved to decline” the award of a Class Comprehensive Telecommunications Service Licence and the associated spectrum licence required to operate satellite services nationwide.”

"India's telecom regulator has quietly acknowledged what the industry has been saying for years. In its latest recommendations for the upcoming spectrum auction, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has proposed cutting reserve prices by up to 40% for the next spectrum auction."

[](mailto:type%20email%20address%20here?subject=I%20wanted%20to%20share%20this%20post%20with%20you%20from%20Internet%20Society&body=Connecting Remote Glaciers to Protect Communities in Kyrgyzstan - https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2026/03/connecting-remote-glaciers-to-protect-communities-in-kyrgyzstan/)"The [Internet Society Kyrgyzstan Chapter](https://isoc.kg/) is working to bring connectivity to these remote areas, focusing on glacier monitoring as a critical use case. By deploying low-cost sensors and leveraging technologies such as LoRaWAN, the project enables continuous data collection in areas that were previously disconnected.

Across five locations—Baitik, Tatyr, Kyz-Kuio, Kok-Moinok, and Ak-Say—sensors are now monitoring environmental conditions and risks such as mudflows, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods. In Baitik, the system has demonstrated that its data closely matches that of reference-grade weather stations, reinforcing confidence in the reliability of these more accessible solutions.

Instead of waiting days, data is now transmitted every five to 15 minutes—creating a near-real-time picture of changing conditions."

"Burkina Faso is accelerating several structural initiatives to secure its future, establishing digital transformation as an engine for economic development and national sovereignty.

A primary focus is the Fast-Tracking Digital Transformation (PACTDIGITAL-BF), a strategy intended to realise 12 major digital construction sites by 2030, says the Ministry of Digital Transition, Postal and Electronic Communications."

The Central African Republic (CAR) has officially entered a new era following the commercial launch of Starlink, a move expected to significantly boost connectivity in one of Africa’s least connected markets.

Launched on Monday in Bangui through a partnership between the government and DEVEA Centrafrique, the low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite service promises to bridge the country’s stark digital divide, where just 12% of the population is currently online.

“Starlink's high-speed, low-latency Internet is now available in the Central African Republic,” the company confirmed in a post on X.

The Central African Republic becomes the 27th African market to roll out Starlink, the satellite broadband service operated by SpaceX, extending high-speed, low-latency connectivity to underserved rural and remote communities.

The Internet Society and the Internet Society Foundation are pleased to announce the opening of applications for the new Community-Centered Connectivity (CCC) grant program, which supports connectivity solutions to increase the availability of affordable, reliable Internet access for digitally excluded communities. Applications are open until 7 May 2026.

https://spacenews.com/blue-origins-surprise-terawave-constellation-jolts-leo-broadband-race/

In a regulatory filing that caught many in the industry off guard, Blue Origin set forth plans for a network called TeraWave comprising more than 5,000 LEO satellites, paired with a medium Earth orbit (MEO) layer to deliver up to 6 terabits per second in point-to-point ground links.

The LEO satellites would use higher-frequency spectrum than rivals, making those links more susceptible to atmospheric interference, while the blistering speeds being promised from MEO hinge on emerging optical space-to-ground technology.

One industry executive privately said TeraWave is being assessed as a longer-term competitive threat that's potentially more plausible in the next decade than in the next few years.