TECHNOLOGY

ISPs Operating In Nigeria Rise To 225

 

Companies providing internet services in Nigeria have increased to 225 as of September 2022 from 187 recorded in December 2021.

According to the updated list of licensees published by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), 38 more companies have been licensed since the beginning to bridge the internet access gaps in the country.

The newly licensed companies include Elon Musk’s company, Starlink, whose licence was approved by the telecom regulator in May this year.

While other licensees will be leveraging the existing bandwidth capacity in-country to provide last-mile connectivity for Nigerians, Starlink, which is expected to launch its service this month, will be deploying its satellite technology to provide internet service across Nigeria.

Industry experts argued that the rising number of ISPs is expected to boost the country’s broadband penetration target of 70% by 2025.

However, locations of the service providers show that most are still concentrated in the urban areas, as the digital gap between urban and rural Nigeria continues to widen.

NewsBeatng reports that NCC’s ISPs data showed that the Internet Service Providers are concentrated in Abuja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt.

The new service providers are coming amidst complaints by the old players over the stiff competition with the Mobile Network Operators.

The ISPs have been blaming the bigger operators, especially the likes of MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile for their woes as the operation of the mobile network operators in the retail data market with cheaper prices is said to be the bane of the ISP businesses.

Speaking on behalf of the service providers recently, the Chief Executive Officer of VDT Communications Limited, Mr. David Omoniyi appealed to the government to come to the aid of the business.

ALSO READ  NCC And Its Drive For Digital Economy Transformation In Nigeria

According to him, the ISPs who could be classified as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the telecoms market are dying by the day.

“Indigenous ISPs are disappearing, more than 200 have been licensed so far by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), but only a few of them are still operating. They are largely SMEs and need support to survive,” he said.

While emphasizing the role of the ISPs in the country’s quest for ubiquitous broadband, Omoniyi added that the implementation of the National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 requires the input of every stakeholder to succeed, hence the ISPs, which play significant roles in taking the services to the last mile must be supported.

“We need to carry everybody along and one way is to keep the ISPs alive. We need the majority of them around to keep employing people and to take the service closer to the people. There is a need for targeted intervention for them to survive,” he added.

 

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button