Africa Mobile Networks (AMN), a rural network operator that builds and runs base stations for mobile carriers, has activated its 2,000th base station in Nigeria, and one of those sites now runs on Starlink satellite backhaul: testing at the Yebu site recorded 4G download speeds above 81 Mbps, Africa Business Communities reported on 27 October 2026. Two other satellite deals announced in recent weeks are covered below: Canal+’s capacity extension with SES, which involves no low Earth orbit (LEO) service at all, and a Eutelsat OneWeb project in Greenland.
Key facts
- AMN says its Nigerian network now connects more than 4.7 million previously unserved or underserved people to 2G, 3G and 4G services, according to Africa Business Communities.
- Yebu is the first site in Nigeria to combine Starlink LEO backhaul with AMN’s own AMN Radio Node (ARN) technology, the outlet reports.
- AMN’s infrastructure now represents 10 per cent of the active tower footprint of Nigeria’s largest mobile network operator, and the company operates in 10 countries, the same report says.
- It expects to pass 2,100 Nigerian sites by the end of 2026 and to install more than 60 sites a month in Nigeria during 2027, having already managed 114 in a single month.
- Separately, Canal+ extended its satellite capacity partnership with SES through 2040, per news.broadcastmediaafrica.
- Eutelsat is supplying OneWeb LEO capacity to Greenland under an EU-backed project, Advanced Television reported in September.
Why it matters
The 81 Mbps measured at Yebu is a test result at one dual-band site, not a service level AMN has committed to, and it sits at the top of a wide range: Africa Business Communities says the same network reaches its 4.7 million users with 2G and 3G as well as 4G, so many AMN sites carry voice and text rather than video-grade broadband. The report publishes no speeds for AMN’s fibre-fed or microwave-fed sites, so the satellite link cannot be benchmarked against the alternatives from it.
Read together, the three announcements are three ways of paying for the same gap. Nigeria is commercial: a tower company buys LEO capacity wholesale and sells coverage to carriers. Canal+ and SES is a long-term capacity contract for broadcasting, where one satellite feed serves millions of households and, by the reporting outlet’s own account, no LEO service is involved. Greenland is public money, with the European Union and two governments funding links a commercial operator would be unlikely to build alone. What the three share is terrain where terrestrial build-out does not pay for itself.
What AMN said
Michael Darcy, AMN’s chief executive, framed the 2,000-site mark as more than a numbers milestone. Quoted by Africa Business Communities, he said: “We will not stop until our vision is realised: no community, regardless of location, left without reliable communications.”
The outlet also relays AMN’s own list of hoped-for benefits — company aspiration rather than measured outcome, and unquantified in the report: remote consultations at local clinics, digital tools for small businesses, remote education, coordination of emergency medical dispatch, and narrowing the digital gender gap.
What the Starlink backhaul costs is not public
None of the three reports gives a price. Africa Business Communities does not say what AMN pays SpaceX for the Yebu capacity, which Starlink service tier the site uses, what else the arrangement between the two companies covers, or whether satellite works out cheaper than trenching fibre or erecting a microwave relay to a remote site.
What it means for satellite internet availability
Africa Business Communities says AMN operates in 10 countries, but the report does not say whether the Yebu arrangement will be repeated outside Nigeria. The gating factor is regulatory: Starlink has to be licensed to sell service in a market before any operator there can buy capacity from it. As we have reported, Starlink’s Starlink licence in South Africa remains stalled pending a law change, and a pledge of free Starlink service to 5,000 South African schools has not been delivered, even as SpaceX reported 13.6 million Starlink subscribers worldwide. Backhaul deals of the Nigerian kind widen who benefits from satellite capacity without widening who buys it, because the reach arrives through a mobile operator’s existing tariff rather than a new retail market.
Canal+ locks in SES capacity to 2040
Canal+, the French pay-TV group, has extended its satellite capacity partnership with SES through 2040. News.broadcastmediaafrica reports the deal keeps access to SES infrastructure across several orbital positions, serving more than 40 million subscribers in 70 countries. Chief technology officer Stéphane Baumier said the relationship with SES had run for more than 30 years and that the renewal provides flexibility and reliability as the group expands internationally; Deepak Mathur, president of SES’s Media business, called Canal+ one of the operator’s longest-standing customers.
Neither company identified the specific satellites or orbital positions, the African markets covered, the amount of capacity contracted or the deal’s value, the outlet says. It also cautions that the extension is not evidence Canal+ will rely exclusively on satellite through 2040, noting that the group is integrating MultiChoice and simplifying DStv package structures across African markets. Satellite stays relevant to direct-to-home television where terrestrial infrastructure and reliable broadband are limited, it says, because operators can cover wide areas without every household holding a high-capacity internet connection.
Greenland: the state-backed route
Advanced Television reported in September that Eutelsat, the European satellite operator, has joined the Enhanced Satellite Connectivity Project for Greenland, supported by the European Union and the governments of Greenland and Denmark, extending service to remote settlements and critical infrastructure with Tusass as lead partner. The launch was attended by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
The EU said its support reflects a commitment to European sovereignty and resilience in critical infrastructure, the report says, and the project draws in HispaSat and builds on the SpaceRISE consortium delivering the EU’s IRIS² secure connectivity programme. Eva Bisgaard, Eutelsat’s President for Connectivity, said the work strengthens resilient, sovereign infrastructure in a strategically important Arctic.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is satellite backhaul?
Backhaul is the link that carries traffic between a mobile base station and the operator’s core network. At AMN’s Yebu site, a Starlink low Earth orbit terminal provides that link in place of fibre or a microwave relay, according to Africa Business Communities.
What is AMN’s ARN technology?
ARN stands for AMN Radio Node, the company’s own multi-carrier base station platform. Africa Business Communities says it has been deployed across AMN’s towers since 2024 and supports 2G, 3G and 4G, with dual-band configurations allowing operators to offer coverage on more than one frequency band from a single site.
Do people served by a Starlink-backhauled tower need their own Starlink dish?
No. They connect with ordinary handsets on their existing mobile operator’s tariff, because the satellite link sits behind the tower rather than in the home. The Starlink cost therefore falls on AMN, which sells coverage wholesale to the carriers hosted on its towers.
Why is OneWeb rather than Starlink used in Greenland?
Advanced Television reports that Eutelsat supplies OneWeb low Earth orbit capacity in partnership with Tusass, Greenland’s national telecommunications provider, under the EU-backed Enhanced Satellite Connectivity Project for Greenland, and says the OneWeb constellation’s polar orbit suits high latitudes.
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