Five operators dominate Nigeria’s fibre market as 5G struggles to gain traction - The Guardian Nigeria News
Nigeria’s fixed broadband market remains highly concentrated, with five operators accounting for 83.84 per cent of the country’s fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) subscriptions, raising concerns about competition and the pace of infrastructure development.
Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), analysed by The Guardian, showed that 99 licensees collectively had 319,735 FTTH subscriptions in the second quarter of 2026.
MTN, FibreOne, ipNX, Broadbase and NgCom accounted for 268,371 of the connections, representing 83.84 per cent of the total. The subscriptions are largely concentrated in urban centres, reflecting the limited reach of fixed broadband infrastructure beyond major cities.
While fixed broadband remains concentrated among a handful of providers, Nigeria’s mobile market is facing a different challenge: growing consumer dissatisfaction despite the expansion of 5G services and increases in mobile tariffs.
Fresh data from Ookla Speedtest Intelligence showed that consumer rating scores for internet service providers declined from 3.4 in 2022 to 3.0 in 2026. Its Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures customers’ willingness to recommend their service provider, also fell from -15.6 to -34.3 over the period.
Ookla attributed the decline partly to increased customer frustration following higher mobile tariffs.
The development followed the government-approved 50 per cent increase in mobile tariffs in early 2025, which raised concerns about affordability, particularly among lower-income users.
Despite the expansion of 5G coverage, adoption remains low. Ookla data showed that median 5G download speeds fell from 329 Mbps in 2022 to 155 Mbps in 2026, while 5G accounted for only 4.6 per cent of mobile connections.
At the same time, the proportion of scanned locations with 5G coverage increased from 11.3 per cent in 2023 to 28.9 per cent in 2026.
Ookla noted that the network remained largely under-utilised, citing the high cost of 5G-enabled devices and data.
The affordability challenge has also encouraged some consumers with 5G-capable devices to remain on 4G, which has a significantly wider coverage footprint.
Overall mobile internet performance, however, has improved. Median mobile download speeds increased from 18.94 Mbps in 2022 to 26.22 Mbps in 2026.
The data also showed a persistent urban-rural divide. Urban users recorded download speeds of between 17 Mbps and 24 Mbps, compared with 14 Mbps to 21 Mbps in rural areas, underscoring the infrastructure gap facing communities outside major cities.
Nigeria’s 5G rollout began with MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications, which emerged as winners of the 3.5GHz spectrum auction in December 2021. Each paid $273.6 million for the spectrum, while MTN also paid a $15.9 million assignment fee.
MTN subsequently expanded its 5G network across major cities, while Mafab’s rollout was slower, with services initially launched in Lagos and Abuja.
Airtel Nigeria entered the market in January 2023 after securing a 100MHz 5G licence for $316.7
