MTN and FiberOne Broadband controlled 72.9 percent of Nigeria’s 319,735 FTTX subscriptions in the second quarter of 2026, highlighting the high concentration in the country’s fibre broadband market, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The figures show that although 99 operators featured in the commission’s latest FTTX subscription data, subscriber acquisition remains dominated by a small number of providers, raising questions about the ability of smaller fixed broadband operators to achieve scale in Nigeria’s market.
MTN led the market with 176,468 FTTX subscriptions, representing about 55.2 percent of the total, while FiberOne Broadband followed with 56,486 subscriptions, or 17.7 percent.
The gap between the two leading operators and the rest of the market was significant. ipNX Nigeria Ltd ranked third with 14,698 subscriptions, accounting for 4.6 percent, followed by Broadbased Communication Ltd with 10,761 subscriptions, or 3.4 percent, and Ngcom Ltd with 5,958 subscriptions, representing 1.9 percent.
Together, the five largest operators accounted for about 82.7 percent of all FTTX subscriptions reported by the NCC in the quarter, leaving the remaining operators to share less than a fifth of the market.
FTTx, or Fibre to the X, refers broadly to broadband networks that use fibre-optic cables to bring connectivity closer to the end user. The “X” represents the point at which the fibre connection terminates, including Fibre to the Home (FTTH), Fibre to the Building (FTTB) and other configurations.
While the NCC data does not by itself establish why subscriber numbers are concentrated among a few operators, comments by the regulator point to infrastructure access, deployment costs and last-mile connectivity as some of the structural issues that could affect competition in Nigeria’s fixed broadband market.
Access to existing fibre
Nigeria’s growing fibre footprint has not necessarily translated into equal access to the infrastructure needed by operators to compete for customers.
Aminu Maida, executive vice chairman of the NCC, offered an indication of one of the industry’s structural challenges during a panel discussion at the BusinessDay CEO Forum in July.
According to Maida, Nigeria already has fibre infrastructure across its states, but operators do not always have a transparent mechanism through which they can access existing networks.
“We actually do have connectivity all over the country, especially fibre. But what we don’t have is a framework that enables a fair and transparent mechanism for anybody that wants to access this fibre,” he said.
He said the NCC was working on a framework for a wholesale fibre market that would establish a transparent and fair pricing mechanism for operators seeking access to backbone infrastructure.
The proposed framework, according to Maida, is intended to address a situation where access to backbone fibre can depend largely on the discretion of the infrastructure owner.
He argued that without conditions that allow competition to develop, the presence of multiple operators alone may not necessarily translate into a competitive market.
“As good as liberalisation and free markets are, if you do not create the conditions for competition to occur, the market will not function efficiently,” he said.
Maida’s comments provide context to the concentration reflected in the NCC’s FTTX data. The presence of dozens of operators does not necessarily mean that all have equal access to the infrastructure required to build networks, reach customers and compete at scale.
Right-of-Way remains a deployment challenge
The cost and complexity of deploying new fibre networks also remain constraints for operators seeking to expand their reach.
Maida has repeatedly identified Right-of-Way (RoW) charges, multiple approval processes, vandalism and poor coordination among stakeholders as barriers to faster fibre deployment.
Speaking at the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria’s Critical Conversation Forum on Fibre to the Home (FTTH) in Lagos, he said only about 265,000 FTTH subscriptions had been recorded at the time, describing fixed broadband as an area with significant room for expansion.
He attributed the slow rollout of fibre infrastructure partly to persistent RoW bottlenecks, multiple approval processes and inconsistent deployment standards.
The NCC said 13 states had eliminated RoW charges, while another 16 had adopted the National Economic Council’s recommended rate of N145 per linear metre.
Maida also argued that telecommunications infrastructure should be incorporated into urban planning alongside roads, electricity and water infrastructure, saying this would help reduce deployment costs and improve efficiency.
The commission has also introduced an Ease of Doing Business Portal to provide investors with information on state-level regulatory requirements, approvals and applicable legislation.
Fibre backbone is not the same as last-mile access
Nigeria’s growing fibre footprint does not automatically mean that more homes, businesses and institutions are connected to high-speed broadband.
At the FTTH forum, Maida cautioned that expanding Nigeria’s fibre backbone would not, on its own, close the country’s connectivity gap.
He said backbone expansion needed to be complemented by last-mile FTTH connections that could bring high-speed internet directly to homes, schools, hospitals, businesses and other institutions.
The Federal Government’s Project BRIDGE, which targets approximately 90,000 kilometres of fibre-optic infrastructure across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas, is expected to significantly expand the country’s backbone network.
But the impact of this expansion on consumers will ultimately depend on how effectively operators can use the infrastructure to extend last-mile connections to homes, businesses and institutions.
Where are the smaller operators?
The geographical distribution of broadband operators provides another dimension to the concentration in Nigeria’s fixed broadband market.
During the CEO Forum, Maida said about 85 percent of ISPs in Nigeria were located in Lagos and Abuja, with the majority concentrated in Lagos.
He linked the concentration partly to the difficulty operators face in accessing backbone fibre outside established markets.
According to Maida, the absence of a transparent wholesale market means an operator seeking to enter a new location may have to negotiate access with the owner of existing backbone infrastructure.
The NCC’s Q2 2026 FTTX subscription data, however, does not provide a state-by-state breakdown of subscribers. It is therefore difficult to determine from the data alone where FTTX customers are concentrated geographically or whether the distribution of subscribers directly mirrors the concentration of operators.
The commission’s State-Wise Digital Infrastructure Deployment data published in July nevertheless provides a broader picture of the country’s fibre infrastructure landscape.
Nigeria had 101,148.36 kilometres of fibre-optic infrastructure and 57,756 Base Transceiver Station (BTS) sites across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Lagos had 11,586.70 kilometres of fibre and 7,996 BTS sites, the highest figures among the states, while the Federal Capital Territory had 6,973.13 kilometres of fibre and 2,884 BTS sites.
Maida said the NCC’s proposed wholesale fibre market framework is intended to create a more predictable environment in which operators can obtain access to existing backbone infrastructure at transparent and regulated prices.
Such a framework could reduce the need for every operator entering a new market to build an entirely separate backbone network, potentially lowering entry barriers and allowing providers to focus more resources on last-mile connections and customer acquisition.
Maida also pointed to competition as an important mechanism for improving affordability.
Using Lagos as an example, he said the availability of competing providers had helped create a smaller affordability gap compared with areas where consumers have fewer alternatives.
“If you look at the situation in Lagos… there’s competition. There are alternatives,” he said.
For a fibre broadband market where two operators account for nearly three-quarters of FTTX subscriptions, the development of a wholesale access framework could therefore become an important part of efforts to widen competition, particularly if smaller operators are able to use existing infrastructure to expand into new markets without having to build entire networks themselves.
At the same time, Maida has stressed that expanding the backbone must be accompanied by investment in last-mile networks and better coordination of fibre deployment.
For the NCC, the proposed wholesale access framework, alongside continued investment in last-mile networks, could help create conditions for greater competition in Nigeria’s fixed broadband market.
The Q2 FTTX subscription figures, meanwhile, show that subscriber acquisition remains concentrated, with MTN and FiberOne accounting for nearly three-quarters of reported subscriptions.
