MTN outshines ISPs in fibre broadband, accounts for 55% of customers

MTN Nigeria has emerged as the dominant player in Nigeria’s fibre broadband market, accounting for more than half of all Fibre to the X (FTTX) subscriptions in the second quarter of 2026.

This is according to the latest fibre market data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The data shows that MTN had 176,468 FTTX subscriptions as of Q2 2026, representing 55.2% of the 319,735 subscriptions recorded across the market.

This puts the telecoms giant well ahead of traditional internet service providers (ISPs), with its closest competitor, FiberOne Broadband, recording 56,486 subscriptions, equivalent to about 17.7% of the market.

What the NCC data shows

ipNX Nigeria ranked third with 14,698 subscriptions, while Broadbased Communication had 10,761 and Ngcom recorded 5,958 subscriptions.

• The figures highlight MTN’s growing dominance in the fibre broadband segment, despite the presence of a large number of ISPs competing for subscribers in the market.
• MTN’s 176,468 subscriptions were more than three times FiberOne’s 56,486 subscriptions, while its customer base was almost 12 times larger than that of ipNX.
• Among other major operators, Airtel recorded 4,417 FTTX subscriptions, narrowly ahead of Luli Fibra Cables Solution with 4,412. Layer3 had 3,613 subscriptions, while Choice2mobile Technology recorded 3,492.

Legend Internet Plc had 3,101 subscriptions, followed by Amdeetel Nigeria with 2,824 and Swift Networks with 2,509.

The data also shows a highly concentrated market, with the top two operators alone accounting for about 73% of all FTTX subscriptions.

The smaller players

Beyond the leading operators, the market remains fragmented, with dozens of smaller providers accounting for relatively small numbers of subscriptions.

• Kkon Technologies had 2,289 subscriptions, Ciudad Infrastructure recorded 2,144, while MangoNet Integrated Technologies had 1,878. Dotmac Technologies and Wow Networks recorded 1,690 and 1,641 subscriptions respectively.
• Main One Cable Company Nigeria had 1,503 subscriptions, while Spectranet, the largest ISP in Nigeria recorded 1,344 fibre customers.

The NCC data covers 100 operators, although the majority of them recorded relatively small subscriber numbers compared with MTN and the leading ISPs.

Get up to speed

Last year, MTN Nigeria rebranded its fibre broadband service from MTN Fibre Broadband to FibreX, saying the new name reflected its dedication to supporting Nigeria’s digital transformation journey.

• The company also noted that the rebranding aligned with Nigeria’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) 2020–2025, which aims to achieve 70% broadband penetration by 2025, ensuring minimum speeds of 25 Mbps in urban areas and 10 Mbps in rural regions.

MTN added that FibreX was expected to contribute to the expansion of the national fibre capacity from 35,000 km to 125,000 km, a plan that includes laying an additional 90,000 km of fibre.

What you should know

Meanwhile, despite the rapid expansion of fibre infrastructure by telecom operators, access to fibre internet remains concentrated in major cities.

According to the recently released data by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), operators have deployed a total of 101,148.36 kilometres of fibre optic cable across its 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), but nearly one-fifth of that infrastructure is concentrated in just Lagos and Abuja.

An analysis of state-by-state infrastructure data released by the Commission shows that Lagos and the FCT together account for 18,559.83km of fibre, representing 18.35% of Nigeria’s total deployed fibre network.