Fifteen Nigerian states currently have no independent internet service providers (ISPs), a gap that experts say is weakening competition, raising broadband costs and slowing the country’s digital economy.
This has made the country slip to 85th place globally in internet speed, underscoring growing infrastructure pressure and a widening digital gap with regional peers.
Mohammed Rudman, the chief executive officer of the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), on Tuesday, said the absence of autonomous system numbers (ASNs) in many states has left millions of Nigerians dependent almost entirely on mobile network operators for internet access.
Autonomous system numbers give networks routing independence and allow them to exchange traffic directly on the global internet. Without them, ISPs cannot operate independently, limiting network diversity and making the internet ecosystem more fragile.
“If you go to a state such as Yobe or Gombe, with about three million people, there is no single internet service provider apart from the mobile network operators,” Rudman said at a media capacity-building training on Nigeria’s Digital Infrastructure Economy held in Lagos.
IXPN data shows that only nine states have up to three autonomous system numbers, with Lagos accounting for 171, followed by Abuja, Rivers, Oyo, Ogun, Kano, Osun and Delta.
One network per million people
On a national scale, Nigeria has just one autonomous system number for every one million people, a figure Rudman described as extremely low for Africa’s largest economy.
By comparison, the United States has 91 autonomous system numbers per million people, Brazil has 43, and South Africa has 13, highlighting Nigeria’s limited network diversity.
According to Rudman, fewer independent networks reduce competition and concentrate market power in the hands of mobile operators, a structure that contributes to high broadband prices and limited consumer choice.
About 99.5 percent of Nigerian internet users currently access the internet via mobile networks, while fixed broadband, wireless providers and satellite services together account for less than one percent.
“This means any disruption on mobile networks affects almost everyone,” Rudman said, adding that the lack of alternatives also weakens service quality and resilience.
Africa trails Asia in network growth
Nigeria’s challenge mirrors a broader continental gap. Africa, through its regional internet registry AFRINIC, has allocated only about 2,670 autonomous system numbers, the lowest among the world’s five internet regions.
In 2021 alone, AFRINIC issued 256 ASNs, compared with more than 7,700 allocated by the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) during the same period.
Rudman said the slow pace of network growth has left Africa and Nigeria in particular, lagging behind regions where digital infrastructure investment is accelerating rapidly.
High operating costs, multiple regulatory approvals and expensive transmission capacity remain major barriers to new ISPs entering the market, he added.
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Most Nigerian websites still hosted abroad
Despite improvements in internet traffic localisation, Nigeria continues to host only a small share of its own digital content.
Rudman said Nigeria hosts just 22 percent of the top 1,000 websites accessed by local users, below Africa’s 34 percent average, while 80 percent of Nigerian websites are hosted outside the country.
Although 60 percent to 70 percent of Nigeria’s internet traffic is now exchanged locally, largely due to global platforms such as Google, Meta, TikTok, Microsoft and Amazon connecting to local internet exchanges, locally owned content remains largely offshore.
This, he said, means much of the economic value created by Nigerian internet usage still accrues to foreign platforms rather than local data centres and service providers.
The $2,000 barrier to network independence
Rudman said the $2,000 cost of acquiring an autonomous system number from AFRINIC, while modest by global standards, remains a significant barrier in Africa’s low-scale internet ecosystem.
He added that technical skill gaps also discourage adoption, noting that many universities and public institutions that already possess public IP addresses and ASNs lack the expertise to configure and route their own networks.
As a result, these institutions remain dependent on service providers even when they have the resources to operate independently.
To address the challenge, Rudman said IXPN, in collaboration with Africa Hyperscalers, is working to onboard at least 100 new autonomous system numbers in Nigeria this year.
He called for stronger capacity building, IPv6 training, content localisation and closer collaboration with data centres, stressing that expanding network diversity would reduce broadband costs, improve service quality and unlock new jobs across Nigeria’s digital economy.
“Network diversity is not optional. It is the foundation of a resilient, affordable and competitive internet,” Rudman said.
