- Disruption to physical maritime routes through the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz is increasing attention on satellite connectivity and digital trade infrastructure in emerging markets
- Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and regional operators are expanding aggressively across Africa and Central Asia, often through partnerships with incumbent telecoms
- Kenya and Rwanda are positioning themselves as digital trade hubs, underpinned by new cross-border financial technology frameworks
- Digital corridors generate compounding benefits, expanding e-commerce markets, increasing cross-border payment demand and strengthening transaction infrastructure
The disruption to maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz reinforces a strategic argument that has been gaining traction among policymakers in emerging markets: that digital trade infrastructure offers a form of connectivity that is less exposed to physical chokepoints than conventional supply chains. Whereas goods move through ports and straits, data and payments move through digital infrastructure such as fibre optic cables. The two are not equivalent, as this type of infrastructure cannot replace physical commodity flows, but for a growing range of trade activity the distinction is becoming commercially meaningful. The current supply chain uncertainty is accelerating investment decisions that were already under consideration and, in some cases, bringing forward timelines.
Satellite connectivity
The expansion of low Earth orbit satellite internet across Africa and Central Asia has been one of the more consequential developments in emerging market digital infrastructure over the past two years and the pace continues to increase. As of early 2026, Starlink was operational in 26 African countries, having expanded its footprint rapidly through a combination of direct-to-consumer licensing and infrastructure partnerships with regional telecoms operators. The model has evolved from a purely consumer-facing one. With approximately 174m subscribers across 14 markets, Airtel Africa announced in December 2025 a partnership with SpaceX to deploy Starlink direct-to-cell connectivity across its entire network, shifting satellite from a supplementary service to a core infrastructure layer.
A subsidiary of its French parent company of the same name, Eutelsat OneWeb, has pursued a complementary but distinct strategy. Rather than targeting individual consumers, it has focused on partnerships with mobile network operators and enterprise clients, integrating its low-earth orbit network into existing telecoms architecture and providing high-capacity backhaul services to operators across Africa and beyond.
The rationale for accelerating these deployments has sharpened since the start of the Gulf conflict. For instance, physical freight corridors now carry risk premiums that were not present 12 months ago. Digital corridors, by contrast, route around physical geography almost entirely. For governments and companies in landlocked or port-dependent economies, this distinction is highly relevant.
The East African digital trade model
Two countries that have moved with particular purpose in this space are Kenya and Rwanda. Both were already recognised as regional leaders in mobile money and digital financial services. What is now emerging is a more deliberate effort to build the regulatory infrastructure that would allow that digital capability to function as a genuine cross-border trade system rather than a collection of nationally bounded services.
In March 2026, the Central Bank of Kenya and the National Bank of Rwanda signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a fintech licence passporting framework, allowing payment service providers licensed in one country to operate in the other without repeating the full licensing process. As a result, market entry timelines between the two countries will be reduced and duplicative licensing requirements removed, allowing smaller fintech firms to expand regionally with capital that would otherwise have been absorbed by repeated regulatory processes. Meanwhile, Rwanda has already signed comparable passporting arrangements with Ghana, suggesting a model that could extend across the continent over the near term.
Digital corridor investment logic
The economic case for digital corridor investment in emerging markets operates on several levels simultaneously. Reliable, low-cost connectivity enables e-commerce platforms to operate in markets where they previously could not reach sufficient scale. Cross-border payment interoperability reduces transaction friction for small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in regional trade. The availability of real-time payment settlement also supports supply chain financing in markets where working capital constraints are a persistent barrier to trade growth.
Taken together, these effects are compounding rather than additive. Each improvement in connectivity broadens the addressable market for digital financial services and each improvement in payment infrastructure makes connectivity more commercially valuable. For emerging markets already demonstrating the capacity to build this infrastructure, the current disruption to physical trade routes involving transit through the Strait of Hormuz may serve as an accelerant for a trend that was already under way.
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