MTN controls 55% of Nigeria’s fibre market, but the overall sector remains tiny

MTN Nigeria has taken the lead in the country's fibre internet market, but this dominance does not reflect the overall small scale of the sector. According to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for June 2026, MTN holds 55.2% of Nigeria's 319,735 Fibre-To-The-x (FTTx) connections, with 176,468 FTTx subscribers.

This represents nearly double the number of subscribers compared to January and marks a 97.3% growth in MTN's fibre subscriber base. However, the sheer size of the market diminishes the significance of this growth. Nigeria has 156.4 million mobile internet subscribers as of June, with only 319,735 FTTx subscribers, meaning FTTx accounts for approximately 0.2% of the total internet subscriptions.

Most Nigerian internet users still rely on mobile networks rather than fixed broadband connections. The issue of Nigeria's broadband challenge lies in the limited reach of fibre broadband, which remains a bottleneck for the country's digital transformation. While the country boasts hundreds of terabits of internet capacity arriving via undersea fibre-optic cables, insufficient fibre is needed to deliver this bandwidth inland.

This is the primary reason why millions of Nigerians lack fast, affordable, and reliable broadband access. Mukesh Chandra, a telecom infrastructure expert, notes that the growth in FTTx subscribers, while notable, does not signal a significant turning point in Nigeria's fibre market. He emphasizes that the total number of fibre subscribers remains small compared to the over 100 million wireless broadband subscribers in the country.

However, Chandra acknowledges the growth as a positive sign that Nigeria is moving towards fibre-based broadband for end-users. The challenge now is for operators to rapidly expand fibre networks to convert this early demand into a mass market. The economics of this expansion are challenging, as Nigeria lacks sufficient fibre redundancy and faces significant costs related to building infrastructure, securing rights-of-way, and navigating regulatory approvals.

With an estimated investment of ₦10 billion ($6.76 million) needed to cable a cross-section of Ibeju-Lekki, operators must navigate various state authorities and negotiate right-of-way fees, which can vary dramatically between regions. MTN is well-positioned to address this infrastructure challenge due to its extensive telecom footprint and substantial capital expenditure in the first half of 2026.

However, operators across the market still face substantial hurdles in deploying the necessary fibre networks to meet demand.