Starlink shuts down roam customers in Zimbabwe

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Yesterday, Starlink started shutting its customers in Zimbabwe who are on the Roam Service. These are subscribers who were using Starlink kits registered in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Eswatini before Starlink got its license in Zimbabwe.

Once Starlink got its license, it gave these customers a 60-day grace period to transfer their kits to Zimbabwean addresses. That or the kit has to return and connect from its registered address outside the country in order to get another 60 days.

There have been suggestions these Roam subscribers were as many as 5,000. So this affects a good number of people. Some were able to transfer their accounts to Zimbabwe, but some could not because of payment problems and capacity issues in Harare.

The Harare capacity problem is quite significant now – there’s just no more capacity, indefinitely. Those subscribers are stuck wait for capacity to open up before they can transfer. But there’s another option.

Transfer of Roam kits to Harare via TelOne, Aura

Affected subscribers can upgrade their account to a more expensive Starlink Business package. And strangely, customers can’t do this directly with Starlink via its website.

It can only be done via resellers, and they’re charging significantly more for subscriptions than Starlink is. And one of them is charging a ‘transfer fee’ of $150.

There are only two Starlink Authorised Resellers in Zimbabwe who are cleared to operate in the country by the regulator – Telone and Aura.

Where Starlink charges $71 a month for its entry level business package, TelOne is charging $115. Aura is charging $104.

Here is the full price Starlink Business price comparison

	Direct Starlink.com Price	Aura Price	TelOne Price
Kit Transfer Fee	free	$150	free
40 GB Priority	$71	$104	$115
1TB Priority	$101	$152	$160
2TB Priority	$200	$296	$320

Their reason for charging at least 46% more is apparently their markup plus taxes they have to pay locally (Potraz, RBZ, ZIMRA). But still, this feels too much. We’re right back to the problem of extortionate pricing/taxing that’s made the internet so expensive in Zimbabwe.

As for the transfer fee that Aura charges, a representative of the company we spoke to said:

It’s USD150 to legalize the kit as we have to pay fees to Potraz and Zimra since most if not all of these kits were smuggled

But it’s difficult to understand because you’d expect TelOne to also charge a fee. Or is it TelOne is unaware of fees they need to pay to Potraz?

And on the subscription side, how is Potraz allowing TelOne to charge more than Aura for essentially the same service? Is it that Starlink prices are not regulated the same as other internet tariffs in Zimbabwe?

It would make sense if these companies were, themselves, doing the technical work and resourcing the physical infrastructure to provide this internet. They are not. They are simply collecting subscriptions payments on behalf of Starlink.

What to do if you’re not in Harare

It’s those in Harare and surrounding areas where capacity has sold out who have to go through the resellers. If you’re outside these areas, this does not affected you.

However, due to Starlink’s popularity, it is possible the other cities will run out of capacity too. Bulawayo especially, might. To protect yourself against this possibility, it is better to transfer your Starlink kit right away. Or buy one right away if you you don’t have it already.

While you’re at it, you might also want to get Starlink’s $71 business package direct from Starlink.com now before you’re forced to go through the resellers. This ensures that you get faster priority internet when capacity becomes a challenge. But it also ensures you pay a much lower subscriptions.