Spectranet, Starlink, and FibreOne Now Control 65% of Nigeria’s ISP Market as Competition Thins
Three major Internet Service Providers, Spectranet, Elon Musk’s Starlink, and FibreOne, now dominate Nigeria’s ISP landscape, collectively accounting for 65% of all actively connected customers. This shift comes amid a shrinking ISP market, despite rising national demand for broadband.
Fresh Q2 2025 data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reveals a structural shake-up that has pushed many operators out of the market. While 224 ISPs are licensed, only 133 remained active as of Q2 2025, meaning nearly 40% of providers have gone dormant.
Of the 133 active providers, just three companies accounted for 203,160 customers, out of a total of 313,713 users, leaving the remaining 130 operators to share only 110,553 customers.
Spectranet Still Leads, But Starlink Is Closing In
Among all players, Spectranet retained its top position with 99,520 active customers, although this reflects a drop from 103,252 recorded in Q1 2025. With two quarters of decline, the company risks being overtaken by Starlink, which is rapidly gaining ground.
- Starlink surged from 59,509 customers in Q1 2025 to 66,523 in Q2 2025.
- FibreOne rebounded from a Q1 slump to hit 37,117 subscribers, maintaining its third-place position.
Other notable ISPs include:
- iPNX – 15,636 customers
- Tizeti – 13,996 customers
- Broad-based Communications – 9,942 customers
- VDT Communications – 5,325 customers
NCC Raises Alarm as ISP Numbers Continue to Shrink
The NCC has repeatedly expressed concern over the dwindling number of active ISPs. According to former NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, as many as 568 licensed ISPs had gone inactive by March 2022.
He attributed the decline to multiple challenges:
- Anti-competition practices within the sector
- Inadequate spectrum availability
- High cost of bandwidth
- Expensive Right of Way (RoW) charges
- Poor corporate governance, particularly among smaller ISPs
Industry analysts add that competition from mobile network operators (MNOs) has worsened since the launch of 5G services by MTN and Airtel, with many enterprise clients migrating to 5G routers.
The aggressive push by MNOs into Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) services has further squeezed ISPs in the home broadband segment.
While MNOs operate under Unified Access Service Licences (UASL), allowing them to deliver voice and data, core ISPs are restricted to internet services alone.
GSM Operators Still Dominate Nigeria’s Internet Market
Despite the presence of 133 active ISPs, their combined subscribers, 313,713, are overshadowed by the four GSM operators (MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile), which collectively recorded 140.6 million active internet subscriptions at the end of Q2 2025.
While ISP customers are mainly enterprise users, concerns are rising over the migration of even business clients to mobile-based internet due to lower costs and greater flexibility.
Experts Warn: Shrinking ISPs Threaten Nigeria’s Broadband Goals
According to Diseye Isoun, CEO of Content Oasis, ISPs are essential for achieving Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan (NBP 2020–2025), which targets 70% broadband penetration by the end of 2025, an objective now likely to be missed.
“ISPs are seen as peripheral, yet essential to the broadband ecosystem, especially for schools, hospitals, and local businesses,” he said.
Isoun notes that Nigeria lacks policy frameworks that sufficiently support ISPs. He advocates a hybrid broadband model, similar to Brazil’s Telebras, where the government subsidises connectivity for education and healthcare institutions through partnerships with private ISPs.
“You can’t resolve connectivity issues in a university with just mobile internet,” he added. “You need durable infrastructure, guaranteed service levels, and local support.”
Industry Leaders Call for Government Intervention
VDT Communications CEO, David Omoniyi, emphasised the critical role ISPs play in achieving national broadband targets, warning that many indigenous ISPs, mostly SMEs, are vanishing.
“More than 200 ISPs have been licensed, but only a few remain active. They are largely SMEs and need support to survive,” he stressed.
He called on the government to provide support mechanisms. He stressed that the successful implementation of the NBP requires participation from all stakeholders, especially ISPs that deliver service to the last mile.
