The number of internet service providers in Nigeria has increased to 258 as of April 2023 2023 from 239 recorded at the end of last year. This is according to the updated list of licensees just published by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which shows that 19 more companies have been licensed between January and April this year to bridge the internet access gaps in the country.
The rising number of ISPs is expected to boost the country’s broadband penetration target of 70% by 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.
NCC’s ISPs data showed that the Internet Service Providers 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.
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 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.
NCC's data shows that the 4 MNOs comprising MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobilehad a total of 156.4 million active internet subscriptions as of February this year, while the core ISPs had 204,810 active internet customers.
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