Ever since Starlink officially landed in Lesotho, there’s been this sudden shift in how the big telecom players, Econet and Vodacom, price their data. Almost “overnight”, we started seeing reduced rates. Cheaper bundles, slightly tweaked promotions, that sort of thing. And don’t get me wrong, on the surface that looks like a win for consumers. Who wouldn’t want more affordable internet?
But then something strange started happening.
Well, maybe not strange, just… expected, if you’ve been paying attention to how networks actually function.
A few weeks into the new pricing wave, I (and honestly, quite a few people I’ve spoken to) started noticing slower speeds. YouTube buffering more than usual, WhatsApp calls cutting off randomly, web pages taking longer to load and Lesotho Tribune’s livestreams a disaster. It wasn’t dramatic at first, just a little frustrating. But then it became hard to ignore.
Now, I’ll admit: I’m not an engineer. I don’t have the technical qualifications to draw definitive conclusions about how mobile networks operate. But you don’t really need a degree to sense that something’s off. The simple version, what I understand, is that if more people are using the same limited bandwidth (resource), something’s going to give. And usually, it’s speed.
That’s the part I keep circling back to. It’s technically impossible, at least without upgrading infrastructure, to cut prices and maintain the same level of performance. You can’t open the floodgates, let more people in, and expect everything to work like it used to unless you’ve made space for the extra load. It’s like inviting the whole village to a dinner meant for five. Everyone’s still welcome, but… well, don’t expect a full plate or any for that matter!
I suppose the competition brought on by Starlink forced the incumbents’ hand. That’s not a bad thing in principle. It’s healthy. Disruption often forces improvement or at least change. But lowering prices shouldn’t be the only response. You also need to invest. Build more towers. Expand backhaul. Acquire more spectrum. Or whatever else engineers say needs to happen behind the scenes…you seem to be focused on what marketing proposes and it’ll backfire!
But I haven’t seen signs that those kinds of upgrades are happening. At least not at the scale that would make a real difference.
It’s possible the providers are playing a wait-and-see game. Maybe they’re hoping Starlink won’t scale quickly or that most users won’t switch permanently. But if that’s the strategy, then it feels short-sighted. Because what we’re seeing now is slower connections across the board, is a consequence of trying to meet new competition with pricing tricks rather than infrastructure improvements.
And honestly, it feels a bit unfair. You’re paying less, sure, but the quality of service is also worse. So in the end, is it really a better deal?
I read on Reddit, that in Botswana, people had similar experiences when Starlink entered the scene. ISPs there also dropped their prices and, for a while, people were excited. Then the networks got bogged down. Speeds dropped. It wasn’t a disaster, but it was enough to remind people that price isn’t everything. Quality matters too.
One post I came across said something like: “Funny how these companies suddenly offer decent speeds the moment a real competitor arrives.” There’s some truth in that. Sometimes, it takes a serious threat for companies to realize what customers have been asking for all along.
But here in Lesotho, it seems we’re stuck halfway. We’ve got the price cuts, but not the upgrades. It’s like starting a race with excitement, only to trip on the first lap.
I’m not blaming the networks entirely. Maybe the margins really are tight. Maybe they’re trying to stretch existing resources as far as they can before deciding whether it’s worth investing more. But from a consumer standpoint, it’s frustrating. You’re led to believe things are getting better, but in practice, they’re just… different. Not necessarily worse, but not exactly better either.
What’s needed now, if we’re serious about digital progress, is some honesty in how we respond to competition. Not just slashing prices, but also upgrading what supports those prices. That’s the only way to give people real value.
Because otherwise, we’re just putting a new label on the same old service and in this case, it might even be a slightly worse version of the old service.
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Comments and tipoffs, editor@lesothotribune.co.ls
