The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has approved six new Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to operate in the West African country.
The Commission’s recent approval of the fresh licensees is said to be part of measures to advance healthy competition in the Broadband market as regards the expected improvement in the Quality of Service (QoS) to enhance telecoms consumers’ Quality of Experience (QoE).
onsumerConnect reports the Commission noted this development, which became effective from January 1, 2026, and affirmed same through the NCC’s updated official licensing database.
It is noted that with the six new entrants into the Broadband market, the total number of licensed ISPs in Nigeria has increased to 231, up from 225 as of December 2025.
The new licensees are Intellvision Technologies Limited, Granet Technologies Limited, Fiber Sonic Limited, Dasol Solution Services Limited, Boost ISP Limited, and Amazon Kuiper Nigeria Limited.
It was, however, gathered that the number of ISPs had increased despite declining customer numbers, and increasing market concentration in big cities, including Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
This distribution, according to industry observers, highlights the continued concentration of Broadband infrastructure in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, majorly driven by deployment costs and demand patterns.
As regards the demographics of the new entrants into the Broadband space, five of the six are based in Lagos, while one operates outside the major commercial centres, from Owerri, in Imo State, South-East Nigeria.
Speaking on the latest additions to the Internet Service Providers, the NCC reportedly said the approval reflected Nigeria’s openness to international Broadband providers.
The telecoms sector regulatory Commission also disclosed the decision aims to expand high-speed Internet access for telecoms consumers in underserved areas in the country.
According to NCC data for the Second Quarter (Q2) of 2025, the ISP market is increasingly concentrated. Spectranet, Starlink, and FibreOne accounted for about 65 percent of active ISP customers, with a combined 203,000 subscribers out of 313,713 active connections across the country.
Industry observers as well noted that as the NCC issued fresh licences, and satellite operators expand their presence in the ecosystem, competition in Broadband market is expected to rise in Nigeria.
On competition in Nigeria’s Broadband market
Competition in the Broadband infrastructure market is said to have shifted with the growing presence of satellite-based ISPs, which offer wider coverage and faster deployment than terrestrial networks.
It is recalled that Starlink, which debuted in the Nigerian satellite Internet market 2023, has become the second-largest ISP by customer numbers, drawing subscribers from local providers, a report noted.
Likewise, the recent licensing of Amazon Kuiper marked the entry of another global player into Nigeria’s low-earth-orbit satellite Broadband space, thereby increasing competition with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Source: ConsumerConnect.com
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