Starlink has paused new orders for its residential internet kits in some of Nigeria’s busiest cities after reaching network capacity. Several parts of Lagos, including Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lagos Island, and Surulere, as well as Abuja, are now marked as “Sold Out” on the company’s website due to congestion on its network.
For residents in these areas, new subscriptions are only possible through a waitlist. Prospective users must pay a deposit and will be notified once additional capacity becomes available. At Chevyville Estate in Lekki, for example, a subscription attempt returned the message: “Starlink service is currently at capacity in your area. However, the good news is you can still place a deposit now to reserve your spot on the waitlist and receive a notification as soon as service becomes available again.”
This is not the first time Nigerians have had to wait for access. In November 2024, Starlink suspended nationwide orders for nearly eight months, citing limited bandwidth and pending regulatory approval from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), especially over planned price adjustments. Orders only resumed in late June 2025, after infrastructure upgrades and regulatory clearance.
According to a Starlink engineer who chose anonymity for unauthorisation to speak, such pauses are a deliberate measure to preserve service quality: “It happens when the area cannot take a new customer due to its designed capacity at the time. This also ensures optimal network connectivity for the other users within the same geographical area.” Depending on the location, easing congestion may require additional satellite launches or fresh approvals from regulators to expand service capacity.
At the same time, Starlink’s pricing has risen steeply since it entered Nigeria. The monthly subscription fee, initially around ₦38,000 ($25.33), climbed to ₦45,000 ($30) and then further to about ₦56,000 ($37) in 2025. The company attributed these increases to the naira’s persistent devaluation, higher operating costs, and compliance with the NCC regulatory framework.
The hikes sparked backlash from customers and prompted temporary regulatory intervention, which delayed Starlink’s ability to activate new users until mid-2025. The impact soon showed in its subscriber numbers.
In Q1 2025, Starlink recorded its first decline in Nigeria since launch. NCC data shows its active users fell from 65,564 in Q4 2024 to 59,509 in Q1 2025—a loss of more than 6,000 subscribers, or about 9%. Analysts linked the drop to steep tariff and hardware price hikes, Nigeria’s broader economic strain, and service disruptions caused by the pause in new activations. Many customers either switched to cheaper alternatives or discontinued entirely.
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