Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country may have ended 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 on a high note with the addition of some 48, 330 more active users in the country.

Checks by The Guardian showed that as of November 2023, active users on the ISPs’ radars were 213, 876. It moved from 193,199 in June 2023 to 213,876 by last November, where some 20,677 more users were added. The figure, however, rose to 262,206 as of the last update by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Further analysis showed that about 107 ISPs, which submitted data to the NCC had 2,377 points of presence (PoP) across the country.

NCC divided the ISP subscribers into two, which are Wireless Internet Subscribers with 217,641 users and Wired Internet Subscribers with 44,565 customers.

The Guardian checks showed that Spectranet had the highest active users with 113,869 (112,976 wireless and 893 wired users) with 645 PoP. FibreOne Broadband Limited is second with 27, 000 users, who are largely wireless subscribers. FibreOne has only four PoPs in the country.

Elon Musk’s Starlink with one PoP in the country, ranked third largest ISP in Nigeria with 23,897 wireless users. Tizeti, which recently paid 0.30 kobo dividend to its shareholders, is the fourth largest ISP with 19,618 wireless users and 163 PoP in the country.

ipNX ranked the fifth largest ISP by subscriptions with 15,362 active users, which include 525 wireless customers and 14,837 wired subscribers. The firm has 54 PoP across the country.

MEANWHILE, an analyst, Sonny Aragba-Akpore, has said that the possibility is high that most other ISPs in the country will soon bow to the firepower of Starlink, stressing that the firm came with disruptive technologies that are already making a world of difference for consumers.

Aragba-Akpore explained that Starlink has prohibitive entry-level and subscription prices and still going on with what it sees as an agenda for a potential captive market as a result of not very robust services by other ISPs “and when it slashed the price of its hardware to N440, 000 recently, the company thought it was doing a big favour to subscribers.”

He said this accounted for a 45 per cent reduction from the N800,000 cost of the hardware router earlier.

According to him, a new price update released by the company, the monthly subscription for the Internet service remains unchanged at N38,000.

“N440, 000 new hardware price. Unlimited high-speed Internet for N38,000 per month, by every standard, is high and prohibitive but it is available everywhere in Nigeria,” he quoted Starlink’s message on its website.

Aragba-Akpore noted that both wireless and cable ISPs are jolted and returning to the drawing board to rejig their strategies for competition with Musk, who is reputed to be one of the richest men in the world.

With about six different licenses at the disposal of Starlink including ISP, Gateway Service Provider, International Data Access (IDA), Sales and Installation Major, Gateway Earth Station and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Aragba-Akpore said, thus making Starlink a mega player and a big threat to other players in the industry.

“While cable cuts remain a nightmare, Starlink boasts of bridging the gap, with its potential impact extending far beyond addressing temporary outages. These include reaching Underserved Areas where Traditional ISPs often struggle to reach remote regions due to the high cost of infrastructure deployment.

“Starlink’s satellite-based approach can effectively bridge this gap, offering high-speed internet access to previously underserved communities by unlocking educational and economic opportunities for millions of Nigerians currently excluded from the digital world. Starlink boosts business continuity by avoiding frequent internet disruptions that can be detrimental to businesses, especially those reliant on online operations,” he stated.