115 Nigerian ISPs Risk Being Declared Illegal – NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has indicated that about 115 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operating in country risk being declared illegal operators by the Commission as their licenses had expired.
The licenses of around 24 other ISPs ended before the end of the 2014. The expired licenses of the 115 are expected to be renewed before the end of this year.
According to a report, Nigeria has about 184 ISPs. Licenses are issued, under the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 (NCA 2003), for a period of five years before they are renewed. Another 22 other ISPs will have to renew their licenses in 2016, 18 in 2017, 21 in 2018 and 20 in 2019.
The 184 ISPs operate in different parts of the country. Apart from the ISPs that are to be renewed in 2016, three GSM operators will also need to renew their 15-year old licenses, namely MTN, Airtel and Mtel, the mobile arm of NITEL.
According to the report, the President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Engr. Lanre Ajayi, said majority of the ISPs, especially the big players are connected to the exchange.
Ajayi said that due to the vicissitudes of the business environment, larger percentages of them are no more in operation.
He said there was need for government to create a favourable environment for business growth, adding that it was important to woo investors into the economy, “especially now that the country plans to develop its broadband potential” According to Kehinde Aluko, a telecoms expert, the ISPs may continue to shun the local exchanges because of the country’s under-developed 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.