Elon Musk’s Internet company, Starlink, has emerged as Nigeria’s third-largest Internet Service Provider with 23,897 subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2023.
That milestone was disclosed in the latest ISP data released by the Nigerian Communications Commission on Monday.
According to the NCC data, Starlink’s active customers in Nigeria surged 113 per cent in Q4 2023, from 11,207 customers in the previous quarter, establishing it as one of the leading ISPs in the country.
Meanwhile, Spectranet, one of the oldest ISPs in the country, maintained its top position in the market with 113,869 active customers.
FiberOne followed in second place with 27,000 active users at the end of 2023.
ISPs are different from mobile Internet providers, like the telcos such as MTN, Airtel, etc. They provide Internet through various wired technologies, such as DSL, cable, fibre-optic, or satellite connections. They use fixed infrastructure that requires a physical connection to the home or business.
Starlink launched its services in Nigeria in January 2023, becoming the first African country to receive the service, more than 20 months after SpaceX met with the NCC to outline their deployment plans.
As of September 2023, just 8 months after its launch, Starlink had amassed 11,207 active subscribers in Nigeria, making it the fourth largest ISP in the country.
To further drive adoption, Starlink Nigeria implemented a 21 per cent discount on its starter kit in October 2023, reducing the price from N378,000 ($378) to N299,500 ($299).
Last month, it was reported that more ISPs slashed their hardware cost by more than 45 per cent, bringing it down to N440,000 from a previous price of nearly N1m.
The NCC’s database further revealed that by the end of 2023, Nigeria had 245 licensed ISPs. However, recent customer data indicates that only 106 of those ISPs had active customers in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The 106 ISPs collectively served 262,206 active customers during that period.
Moreover, seven new ISPs have been licensed this year, increasing the total number of licensed ISPs to 252.
