Licence Starlink : 100 millions de FCFA, un montant resté confidentiel ! (Par Patrice SANE)
On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, the Supreme Court rejected the request for withdrawal filed by the State of Senegal, so the Starlink license remains suspended, and this is the second time in two months that the State has lost in this case.
To understand what's at stake, we need to look at what other operators have paid. In 2007, Sudatel paid $200 million, approximately 90 billion CFA francs, for the license that led to the creation of Expresso, following a tender process. In 2017, Sonatel paid 100 billion CFA francs for the renewal of its license and the allocation of 4G. And for Starlink, we now know they paid only 100 million CFA francs for an ISP license! The recent publication of Starlink's specifications on the ARTP website has revealed this information, which the government had not previously made public. The modest size of this amount raises questions. It's even less than the amounts paid by other Senegalese ISPs, which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is understandable that the State did not want to give much publicity to this information, which is difficult to explain!
There are also the rules. In Senegal, the specifications for each internet service provider must be published on the ARTP website. This is a legal obligation that was respected by all ISPs, except for Starlink, until Sonatel challenged the allocation process. After the suspension in September, the government published the specifications as a matter of urgency, then returned to the court, presenting this publication as new evidence. The court ruled against it, which is logical, since one cannot retroactively regularize a procedure that a judge has already suspended. And by making this urgent correction, the government more or less acknowledged that the procedure was not in order.
The real issue, therefore, is not Starlink. It's a state that demands tens of billions of dollars and extensive procedures from certain operators, while allowing another to enter the market without publishing either its specifications or the price of its license. Those who paid the hefty price have the right to ask which rules are actually being applied.
The Supreme Court will decide the merits of the case in its final decision, and we will then know whether a license granted in this way can stand.
Patrice SANE
Commentaires (8)
C'est également lui qui a rejeté le recours initialement déposé par la Sonatel, le poussant à porter l'affaire devant la Cour suprême.
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