Nigeria has granted seven-year commercial satellite permits to Amazon’s Kuiper Systems, Israel’s NSLComm BeetleSat, and Germany-based Satelio IoT Services, joining Elon Musk-owned SpaceX among operators cleared to expand space-based broadband, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said on Thursday.
The permits were issued under the NCC’s commercial satellite communications guidelines, a licensing framework designed to attract investment and advance next-generation non-geostationary satellite (NGSO) systems in Nigeria, Africa’s largest telecoms market.
Amazon’s Kuiper Systems received a licence to provide Ka-band services over Nigeria via its 3,236-satellite Project Kuiper from February 2026 to February 2033. NSLComm’s BeetleSat-1 network, which plans to deploy 264 satellites, also gained clearance, while Satelio IoT was approved for its 491-satellite IoT system, although only one of its satellites is currently in orbit.
The NCC said the permits align with its push to accelerate satellite broadband expansion and bring Nigeria’s regulatory framework in line with global best practices, signaling a growing openness to private investment in space-based communications.
