Article summary
- Nigeria now has 258 active internet service providers as the telecom regulator licensed more companies.
- A total of 19 companies have been licensed as ISPs so far this year as the country continues to implement its broadband policy.
- The ISP business in Nigeria, however, remains challenging for the service providers.
The number of companies providing internet services in Nigeria has increased from 239 at the end of 2022 to 258 as of April 2023.
According to the updated list of internet service providers just published by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), 19 new companies were licensed between January and April this year to bridge the internet access gaps in the country.
NCC’s ISPs data showed that the companies are concentrated in Abuja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt. For instance, out of the 19 companies that were newly licensed between January and April this year, 10 are located in Abuja, 5 in Lagos, 1 in Edo State, 1 in Kaduna, 1 in Ondo, and another 1 in Adamawa State.
The rising number of ISPs is expected to boost the country’s broadband penetration target by 70% come 2025. However, the locations of the service providers show that most are still concentrated in the urban areas, as the digital gap between urban and rural Nigeria continues to widen.
Challenging business
The new service providers are coming amidst complaints by the old players over the stiff competition with the Mobile Network Operators. The ISPs have been blaming the bigger operators, especially the likes of MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile for their woes as the operation of the mobile network operators in the retail data market with cheaper prices is said to be the bane of the ISP businesses.
Meanwhile, the NCC also recently acknowledged the challenges confronting ISPs in Nigeria as it disclosed that about 568 licensed companies licensed as ISPs had become inactive.
According to the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, one of the major issues is the anti-competition practices in the industry. This is even as he disclosed that a total of 756 companies had been licensed as ISPs in Nigeria as of March 2022, but only 188 of them were active as of that time.
Regulatory efforts
While noting that efforts are being put in place by the regulator to address the issues, Danbatta said:
- “As a result of these challenges, deliberate policies and regulations are being looked at in the Commission in ensuring that ISPs and other smaller players in the industry thrive. Some of the measures the Commission has embarked upon to continue to promote fair play and orderly development of the Nigerian communications ecosystem as well as boost the competitiveness of the industry include providing the required regulatory frameworks and interventions in terms of policies, guidelines, determinations etc., that will encourage fair play in the telecommunications industry.”
- We are also maintaining and mandating more openness and transparency in the activities of stakeholders within the industry in order to ensure healthy competition practices amongst competing licensees. We are actively engaging in strategic collaborations with stakeholders who have crucial roles to play in the growth and development of the Nigerian economy with an emphasis on the telecommunications sector,” he added.
What you should know
Due to the domination of mobile operators, ISPs are mainly servicing the corporate segment of the market. The MNOs as of February this year had a total of 156.4 million active internet subscriptions, while the core ISPs had 204,810 active internet customers.
