Data by the Internet Society has characterised the competitive landscape of Nigeria’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) market as “very poor”. The assessment is a stark contrast to regional peers like South Africa, which earned a “very good” rating, and Kenya, which was rated “poor.”

The Internet Society, a global non-profit advocacy group, evaluated several key performance indicators to assess Nigeria’s digital ecosystem as of 2026.

Infrastructure and connectivity While Nigeria has made strides in physical infrastructure, the report highlighted significant gaps in content localisation. Currently, only 10 per cent of the top 1,000 most-visited websites are accessible via local servers or caches, a figure that falls well short of the Society’s 50 per cent target.

Despite this, the nation boasted a robust physical foundation: Data Centres,18; active IXPs (Internet Exchange Points), 5; autonomous system networks (ASN), 219, with 96 per cent connected via an IXP.

Nigeria’s international connectivity is, however, rated “very good,” providing strong resilience against outages.
Checks by The Guardian showed that as of January 2026, NCC licensed six more firms, which pushed the total number of licensed ISPs in Nigeria to 231 from 225 in December 2025.

Network performance and adoption
Nigeria’s mobile-first landscape showed steady progress, though it still lags slightly behind the African average in overall user adoption (36 per cent in Nigeria versus the 39 per cent continental average).

The key metrics for this include Download Speeds: Broadband averages 33.32 Mbps, while mobile performance is higher at 44.14 Mbps; 4G/5G access is 84 per cent of the population has access to at least 4G; 14 per cent has access to 5G.

The report noted that low-consumption Internet access requires approximately 1.73 per cent of average monthly income (GNI).

In terms of IPv6 adoption, the report said only five per cent of users can access resources via IPv6, slightly trailing the African average of six per cent.

Market concentration
The report pointed to a high degree of market concentration as a primary driver for the “very poor” competition rating. The ISP market is currently dominated by a few major players, according to the Internet Society. These are MTN, 68 per cent; Airtel, 26 per cent, Globacom, 16 per cent; Starlink, two per cent; and Scloud Pte Ltd, two per cent.

Security and governance
The Internet Society also assessed the regulatory and safety environment. Nigeria holds a security preparedness score of 82.40 on the 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index, reflecting a decent capacity to manage cyber incidents. However, the nation’s e-government readiness remained modest, with a score of 48.15. On a positive note, the adoption of the .ng country code domain has reached 182,509 registrations, indicating growth in local digital branding.

Putting a context to this, a telecom expert, Kehinde Aluko, said the market is rated “very poor” due to several challenges, including high barriers to entry for smaller ISPs and the deepening dominance of the big three, which are MTN, Airtel and Globacom.

Aluko stressed that inequitable competition exists, where many ISPs struggle to compete with large Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). He said the MNOs often dominate the retail space with aggressive pricing, putting smaller, specialised ISPs at a significant disadvantage.

He pointed out high operational and infrastructure costs. According to him, reliable power is a fundamental, yet expensive, requirement for network operations. He said most ISPs must rely on costly backup power solutions (such as diesel generators), which significantly inflate operating expenses.

“The lack of robust, nationwide fibre-optic backbone infrastructure necessitates high capital expenditure (CAPEX). Deploying “last-mile” connectivity is prohibitively expensive, leading providers to focus exclusively on densely populated, commercially viable urban centres.

“Infrastructure is frequently damaged, with thousands of instances of fibre cuts and equipment theft reported annually, creating massive maintenance costs and service disruptions,” he stressed.

Industry advocacy groups, including the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), have equally flagged economic and affordability pressures.

According to them, economic volatility, including inflation and the cost of foreign exchange, has made the import of essential equipment and technology more expensive.