Starlink is steadily narrowing the gap with Spectranet, Nigeria's long-standing leading internet service provider, according to data compiled by Intelpoint from Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) figures for the second quarter of 2026.

Spectranet remained Nigeria's top ISP as of June 2026 with 111,384 active subscribers, ahead of Starlink's 98,642 and FiberOne's 56,486, the data showed.

The distance between the top two providers has narrowed considerably, however. It stood at 16,534 subscribers in December 2025 and had shrunk to 12,742 by June 2026, as Starlink added 6,651 subscribers over the period compared with 2,859 for Spectranet — more than double the market leader's net gain. Subsequent NCC quarterly releases will show whether that pace of net additions holds through the rest of the 2026 reporting year.

A tight race below the top two

Further down the rankings, Fieldbase Services moved into fourth place with 15,102 subscribers, edging out ipNX Nigeria's 15,084 by just 18 subscribers, the closest margin recorded in the dataset. Swift Networks followed in sixth place with 12,600 subscribers, representing 3% of the market.

Despite the movement beneath them, Spectranet, Starlink and FiberOne together continued to account for the bulk of the market, holding a combined 63.3% share. The remaining 142 providers tracked by the NCC shared 111,700 subscribers between them, or 26.5% of the total.

Nigeria's active ISP subscriber base stood at 420,989 as of June 2026, according to the data, as the NCC continues efforts to expand broadband penetration nationwide under its ongoing national broadband strategy, the latest in a succession of plans that included the National Broadband Plan's target of 70% broadband penetration by 2025. The ISP segment tracked in the data is separate from Nigeria's mobile network operators, which account for the far larger share of the country's internet subscriptions.

Starlink's satellite-based service has expanded steadily across Nigeria since its 2023 entry into the market — its first in Africa — positioning itself as an alternative to fibre and wireless providers, particularly in areas with limited terrestrial broadband infrastructure.

Spectranet, founded in 2013, has held its position as Nigeria's largest ISP for several years, built primarily on 4G LTE and fibre-based home and business internet services across major cities.

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