Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The number of companies providing internet services in Nigeria has increased to 225 as of September 2022 from 187 recorded in December 2021.
This is according to the updated list of licensees just published by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
It was revealed that 38 more companies have been licensed since the beginning to bridge the internet access gaps in the country. This represents a 20.3 per cent increase in the last nine months.
The newly licensed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) include Elon Musk’s company, Starlink, whose license was approved by the telecom regulator in May this year.
The commission noted that while other licensees will be leveraging the existing bandwidth capacity in-country to provide last-mile connectivity for Nigerians, Starlink will be used to deploy its satellite technology to provide internet service across Nigeria.
The rising number of ISPs is expected to boost the country’s broadband penetration target of 70 per cent by 2025.
This will boost the efforts being put in place by the government to drive the digital economy.
The NCC said it has already articulated some important documents guiding the achievement of the target, which include the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020 – 2025, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020 – 2030, NCC’s Strategic Management Plan (SMP) 2020-2024, and its Strategic Vision Implementation Plan (SVIP) 2021–2025, which are being implemented towards achieving its mandate.
Despite the increment in outlets that can provide Internet services, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) such as MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile are also offering Internet service alongside voice and other services as permitted by the Universal Access Service Licence (UASL), the ISPs are licensed to provide internet service only.
Business Post understands that there is a disparity of over 71,600 per cent as all the MNOs have a total of 151 million active internet subscriptions, while the core ISPs had 210,597 active internet customers.
Due to the domination of the mobile operators in the market, the ISPs are mainly servicing the corporate segment of the market and this has raised eyebrows among stakeholders.
In homes and offices, here is how Spectranet Internet services are changing broadband experiences
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In homes and offices, here is how Spectranet Internet services are changing broadband experiences
Let’s think of it: What aspect of human endeavour has not been shaped by this amazing phenomenon? Is it sports, business, health, gaming, social interaction, fashion, education, or lifestyle – the list will definitely run into a megabyte of the document. Is that an exaggeration? Well… maybe not.