According to Hasan Al Hosani, Space42’s chief executive officer for smart solutions, talks are ongoing with organizations such as the African Union Development Agency and financial institutions. While the conversations are still preliminary and no funding target has been set, the firm hopes to secure backing to accelerate its Map Africa project.
Launched last month, Map Africa is a partnership with Microsoft Corp. and geospatial software provider Esri. The program seeks to deliver detailed, high-quality maps covering all 54 African countries. These maps will have applications across logistics, urban planning, and disaster response, and will be licensed to governments with eventual availability for private-sector users.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to happen locally within each country, within each nation,” Al Hosani said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “So part of our process is actually to identify entities and partners, whether it’s on the private sector or the government sector and in parallel.”
Space42, backed by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co., has already connected schools and clinics in several African communities, highlighting its broader ambitions to support digital inclusion. The mapping initiative complements its satellite services across 150 countries spanning Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. The company currently operates eight satellites and plans to add three more this year.
Africa is proving to be an increasingly attractive market for satellite providers. The continent’s young and fast-growing population is driving demand for internet connectivity, while limited terrestrial infrastructure leaves large areas underserved. However, the challenge lies in navigating fragmented regulatory regimes across multiple jurisdictions.
The competitive landscape is also intensifying. Space42 faces stiff competition from Elon Musk’s Starlink, a much larger operator with roughly 8,000 satellites in orbit and active operations in 18 African countries. In South Africa, Starlink is lobbying regulators to ease Black Economic Empowerment rules that would require Musk to cede 30% ownership to local investors in exchange for an operating license. If successful, that regulatory shift could also open doors for Space42.
Despite the disparity in scale, Al Hosani remains optimistic. “Competition is always healthy,” he said, framing the rivalry as an opportunity to strengthen satellite services across the continent.