Telecom
How Starlink Took over Africa’s Largest Internet Market
Starlink has become a major internet service provider in Nigeria, driven by its reliable, high-speed access.
Its success has led to local internet service providers losing subscribers and raising concerns about unfair competition, according to restofworld.org, which reports global tech stories.
Critical institutions have avoided using Starlink’s network because of national security concerns.
In the sprawling electronic market of Lagos’ Computer Village, an item is flying off the shelves: the Starlink kit.
These satellite dishes, with their distinctive white faces and plug-and-play simplicity, represent more than just easy internet availability in Nigeria. They symbolize a technological coup in Africa’s most populous nation, where terrestrial broadband or wireless options are unreliable or inaccessible.
“I have about 20 pieces in the store, but I’m sure they will go before today ends or at the latest tomorrow morning,” Quadri AbdulFatai, a local electronics vendor who claims to have sold more than a thousand units in just 13 months, told Rest of World. “Starlink is very hot now.”
In January 2023, Nigeria became the first African market that Starlink entered.
Two years later, it now ranks second among internet service providers, which are classified separately from large telecom players by the Nigerian authorities.
With over 65,500 users at the end of the third quarter last year, Starlink is second only to 16-year-old Lagos-based ISP Spectranet, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s telecom regulator.
At current growth rates, analysts predict Starlink will become Nigeria’s top internet service provider by mid-2026.
The secret to Starlink’s meteoric rise lies in a simple market reality: Nigerians are desperate for reliable, high-speed internet, which local providers have consistently failed to deliver, according to Temidayo Oniosun, managing director at Space in Africa, a market intelligence company focusing on the continent’s space and satellite industry.
Telecom companies and traditional ISPs in Nigeria suffer from frequent outages, sluggish speeds, and spotty coverage, especially in rural areas where terrestrial infrastructure is limited or nonexistent.
“Nigerians want high-speed and reliable internet, and Starlink’s technology offers that better than anyone else,” Oniosun told Rest of World.
“That’s why it is growing at an incredible speed. While the services aren’t the cheapest, launching with different pricing in different African markets shows that Starlink understands the markets.”
Starlink has made investments in building infrastructure in Nigeria. It has built a base station in Lagos and plans to add facilities in neighboring Abeokuta and Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s oil hub.
These stations will enable the company to beam low-latency internet directly to its rapidly growing user base throughout the country. Low latency is the ability of a network to respond with minimal delay.
Starlink’s success has unsettled competitors. When the company increased subscription prices last October, local operators cried foul, accusing regulator NCC of applying double standards by ignoring their requests for tariff reviews.
The regulator eventually granted local providers a 50% tariff increase in January, but customer perception had been damaged.
The regulator has fostered a fair and enabling environment that empowers all licensed operators, including Starlink, “to compete, innovate, and grow in response to market needs,” an NCC spokesperson told Rest of World.
The regulator has fostered a fair and enabling environment that empowers all licensed operators, including Starlink, “to compete, innovate, and grow in response to market needs,” an NCC spokesperson told Rest of World.
The regulator has licensed over 27 satellite-based communications services providers and issued over 90 landing rights to space segment operators, which include established providers like Eutelsat, SES, Viasat, and YahClick.
“In recent times, the commission has observed growing interest from both established global players and new entrants (especially those providing emerging satellite services) seeking to enter the Nigerian market,” the spokesperson said.
“This level of engagement reflects growing investor confidence in Nigeria’s digital economy and the enabling environment provided by the commission.”
Nigeria has 241 licensed ISPs, of which only 124 had active users as of the third quarter of 2024, collectively serving more than 300,000 subscribers, according to NCC data.
Starlink’s arrival has been nothing short of catastrophic for incumbents. Market leader Spectranet lost 8,428 subscribers between the last quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024, while Tizeti lost about 700 in the same period.
While the losses appear modest, they are significant in the context of the small size of the market served by Nigeria’s ISPs.
The internet landscape is more dominated by mobile network operators MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile, which collectively serve 132.4 million subscribers, providing both internet access as well as traditional phone services.
The playing field is fundamentally uneven, said Temitope Osunrinde, chief marketing officer at Tizeti.
The challenges for local operators include buying spectrum and building local capacity, hiring talent, and paying multiple taxes. If digging for fiber, they have to contend with multiple local government right-of-way permits and also area goons.
“You can’t compare Starlink with local companies because they don’t have to set up local capacity, nor hire and set up an office,” Osunrinde told Rest of World.
Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), believes Starlink’s success reflects not a failure of local providers but “a challenging operating environment, which includes issues such as multiple taxes, multiple regulations, high right-of-way charges, infrastructure vandalism, and the rising cost of foreign exchange.”
Yet for ordinary Nigerians, these industry complaints hold little water compared with the tangible benefits of reliable connectivity. “For me, it was less speed and more concern about constant internet blackouts during meetings,” Olumide Lewis, a Lagos-based tech worker who recently installed Starlink, told Rest of World. “Since we bought our Starlink, we have had some peace of mind. We don’t spend our time thinking about the bad internet again because everything just works.”
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that Nigeria’s internet usage reached a record 1.24 million terabytes in November 2025.
According to the latest data from the NCC, the figure rose modestly from 1.235 million terabytes in October, reflecting steady growth in digital activity across the country.
Broadband penetration in Nigeria crossed the halfway mark in November 2025, reaching 50.58 per cent, up from 45.61 per cent in January, the telecoms regulator reported.
The figure, however, falls short of the 70 per cent coverage target outlined in the National Broadband Plan 2020–2025, which expires this month.
The country had roughly 109 million broadband subscriptions by November. Growth has been uneven, hindered by infrastructure and regulatory constraints, including frequent fibre-optic vandalism that triggers 30 to 43 network cuts daily, high right-of-way fees, and declining subscriber numbers earlier in the year.
Expansion of mobile networks, particularly 3G and 4G services, alongside limited 5G rollouts in urban centres, affordable smartphones, and competitive data plans, has driven uptake.
Investments in the National Communications Backbone and private-sector initiatives have also improved access, especially in underserved areas.
While Nigeria is gradually improving digital inclusion, achieving the original broadband plan remains challenging due to high infrastructure costs, coverage limitations, and deployment hurdles.
The NCC maintains that continued investment in mobile networks and broadband infrastructure will sustain gradual growth in the sector.
Commenting on the development, some Nigerian analysts attributed the surge to the broader mobile and broadband adoption and the growing appetite for streaming, online learning and other digital services.
According to the analysts, the figures suggest that internet connectivity is no longer a luxury but a necessity for both business and leisure, underscoring the slow but steady expansion of Nigeria’s digital economy.
Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) has named the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) among the top three Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government with the Best Ranking in Website Performance for 2025.
L-R: Head Special Projects, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Salamatu Andu; Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), Engr. Abaraham Oshadame; Director General Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Head Customer Support Service, Galaxy Backbone, Rosemary Ehize; Secretary to the ES. Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Tahir Aminu at the BPSR award ceremony for top four MDAs in BPSR Website Performance and Ranking 2025 at the BPSR office on Tuesday, 23rd December, 2025.
This is coming barely three weeks after the telecom regulator was recognized as one of the top five best-performing Federal Government agencies for 2025 by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) – a testament to the Commission’s consistency in investment in technology for ensuring efficient service delivery.
In the BPSR 2024/2025 scorecard ranking of agencies’ websites, the NCC came second in the ranking, trailing behind Galaxy Backbone Limited, which came first while the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) clinched the third position, from a pool of 235 MDAs, whose website were evaluated.
BPSR deployed 14 evaluation criteria in include MDA’s website compliance with .gov.ng domain name, appearance and aesthetics (look and feel) of the website, content, relevance to MDAs mandate/government policy and the website’ structure.
Others include website’s responsiveness (device compatibility), security, load time, usability/ease of navigation, availability/uptime, functionality, interactivity, accessibility and capacity building.
The recognition was announced at the official release of Federal Government 2024/2025 Scorecard Ranking for MDAs’ Website held at the Federal Ministry of Finance Auditorium in Abuja on Monday (December 22, 2025) while the award presentation took place at BPSR’s Office on Tuesday (December 23, 2025).
The award, which is an important index metric of the National e-Government Masterplan for determining the Nigeria e-Government Status, was received by the Commission in recognition of its commitment to maintaining a world-class website that enhances service delivery to the citizens.
Receiving the award on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr. Aminu Maida, the NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Abraham Oshadami, appreciated the BPSR for the recognition, describing the award as “another encouragement for the Commission to be a better public service institution leveraging digital platforms such as our web presence to enhance public service delivery to our various stakeholders, thereby implementing the Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business policy direction.”
While presenting the award to the NCC, alongside other two agencies, BPSR’s Director-General, Mr. Dasuki Arabi, commended the top three for their proactive decisions in maintaining world-class websites, which are compliant with the Federal Government’s policy direction in effective and efficient service delivery to the citizens.
According to the DG, the 2024/2025 MDA’s websites’ ranking represents a collective effort of federal public institutions in Nigeria to be transparent, accountable and open in governance, as well as a confirmation to align with global best practices in service delivery to the citizens.
Developed about six years ago, Arabi said as a result of the annual ranking, more public institutions have indicated readiness to embrace reforms, and align with the policy direction of the current administration’s Renewed Hope agenda on improve governance for effective service delivery, as introduced by His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The ideals of harnessing and deploying technological tools for service delivery has become imperative following the COVID pandemic, and distortions of socio-economic system of nations, culminating in the evolution of competitiveness, cost effectiveness, and agile governance.
“As engine room of governance, it behoves on us in the public service to perform our statutory duties and we must put in place technological innovations and standardized websites to operate services as well as deliver service needs to citizens,” he said.
The Scorecard exercise, he said, is part of the BPSR reform broader function of conducting research on reform implementation efforts and presenting ‘best practice’ models to the entire Public Service, and to among others, improve access to government information, facilitate seamless financial transaction, eliminate corruption and cyber theft, as well as facilitate access to government services.
Speaking on the rigorous nature of the exercise that produced the top three winners, the DG said “in the past few weeks members of the Scorecard Jury drawn from inter-Ministerial Agencies, had worked tirelessly to mill websites of selected MDAs through a rigorous process of enduring criteria for the ranking and the outcome had also passed through a quality assurance mechanism to validate the outcome.”
Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has dismissed reports that bank accounts not linked to a Tax Identification Number (TIN) will be frozen or automatically debited from January 1, 2026.
Taiwo Oyedele
Oyedele described the claims as false and misleading, warning Nigerians against panic over misinformation surrounding recent tax and financial reforms.
In a post on his X handle Tuesday morning, he wrote: “Don’t let anyone manipulate you. Your bank account is safe. Misinformation makes you panic and fear a reform that is designed to help you.
“When they tell you that your account will be frozen or automatically debited from January 2026, ask them for the evidence in the new law. Be wise.”
He stressed that no provision in the new tax laws authorises the freezing of bank accounts, adding that the rumours are part of widespread misrepresentation of the reforms.
The committee chairman reiterated that the reforms are intended to simplify Nigeria’s tax system and ease the burden on ordinary citizens, not to impose punitive measures on bank customers.
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