NCC grants license to 7 new ISPs to operate in Nigeria, now 231 in total

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted licenses to seven new Internet Service Providers (ISPs), thereby intensifying competition in the Nigerian telecoms industry. 

According to an updated industry data from the NCC, all new ISPs were granted regulatory approval with each having a 5-year license, effective from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026. With the latest regulatory approval, authorised ISPs in the country have now reached 231, from 224 in December 2025. 

In terms of geographical distribution of the additions, five of the new ISPs are based in Lagos, while one each is in FCT Abuja and Imo State. This reflects the continued concentration in Lagos, Abuja and highly commercialised areas. 

The new ISP licensees are:

• Amazon Kuiper Nigeria Limited (Lagos).
• Boost ISP Limited (Lagos).
• Dasol Solutions Services Limited (Lagos).
• Fibre Sonic Limited (Lagos).
• Granet Technologies Limited (Imo).
• Intellivision Technologies Limited (Lagos).
• Wetom Technologies Limited (Abuja).

The latest development signals a rise in ISP and comes at a time when Nigerian telecoms operators are in a stiff race for subscribers. Latest data shows that Nigeria has 144.7 million internet subscribers as of November 2025, while data usage saw a record of 1.236 million terabytes during the same month. 

For the Nigerian telecoms industry, the rise in competition signals a positive trend. It comes at a time when Nigerians yearn for quality network and internet experience, a service critical for daily financial operations and the digital economy ambition.

Recently, the NCC licensed three additional global satellite providers, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, BeetleSat-1, and Germany-based Satelio IoT Services. While it also signalled competition among operators, it’s an effort to strengthen internet connectivity via satellite. 

Also Read: NCC: MNOs , Banks refund N10 billion to customers for failed transactions.

Rising competition for Nigerian ISPs

The new operators will be joining a market dominated by players such as FiberOne Broadband Limited, Ngcom Limited, Tizeti, Spectranet, Starlink, and ipNX. 

According to the data released by the NCC for the second quarter of 2025, Spectranet, Starlink, and FibreOne accounted for a significant majority of active ISP customers. The three operators controlled about 65% of the 313,713 subscribers actively connected to ISPs as of Q2 2025.

Explicitly, Spectranet remained the largest Nigerian ISP with 99,520 active subscribers, followed by SpaceX Starlink with 66,523 subscribers and FibreOne holding third with 37,117 subscribers. Others with significant subscribers are Tizeti (13,996) and ipNX (15,636).

This shift in subscriber distribution across ISPs reflects the increasing evolution of Nigeria’s internet market, where satellite-based connectivity and mobile networks are increasingly competing with fixed wired and wireless services.

While this figure also represents continuous growth within the ISP sector, it remains a small fraction of internet subscribers.

Nigeria’s four major mobile network operators (MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile) account for 99.5% (144.1 million) of the 144.7 million internet subscribers as of NCC’s November 2025 industry data. The gap reflects the continued dominance of mobile broadband as the preferred connectivity option for most Nigerians.

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