In a report by The Guardian, 115 Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Nigeria run the risk of being declared illegal operators by the end of the year.
The licences of these ISPs will expire this year. The Nigerian Communications Commission, under the under the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 (NCA 2003), will revoke their licenses upon its expiration if they fail to renew their licences for the next 5 years.
The report also indicated that most of the ISPs are not connected to Internet Exchange Points (IXP) in Nigeria. Further stating that only 37 of the 184 ISPs are connected to the country’s IXPs, located in Lagos, Abuja and Port harcourt.
This development is believed to be the cause of high internet tariff in the country.
In the report, The Guardian quoted a telcom expert Kehinde Aluko as saying:
“The ISPs may continue to shun the local exchanges because of the country’s underdeveloped distribution networks, which include national long distance fibre, metro fibre and last mile connectivity, which constitute a huge challenge, especially because of the cost implications.”
Nigeria currently has about 184 ISPs in operation from which 115 will need to renew their licences this year.
