As I sit in the pretty cafe Bujacafe in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, I wait, and wait, and wait for the page to low, the email to send. At least the bougainvillia is pretty and the Burundi coffee tasty.

In May 2024, the President signed an agreement with Starlink to provide fast internet access to the whole country.

The country’s neighbour Rwanda has already signed up.

The potential, one would imagine, would be enormous – a gamechanger for Africa and for Burundi.

True, the price tag might be prohibitive early on – but hotels, restaurants and cafes, larger companies, and the Government itself are likely to be earlier adopters.

The effects are likely to be felt not only in the capital, which is being transferred to Gitega. The real breakthrough could be in the provincial towns, rural areas where communications will be hugely accelerated, allowing for adoption of technologies like blockchain.

Starlink advances the potential for e-government, for the revenue agencies, and online government portals. It has huge implications for schools which would be able to stream and enjoy access to hybrid online/physical teachers. In health, patient records can be digitised.