Nigeria's new telecom operators face uphill battle

Every few days, Ewoma Okweni buys another internet bundle. The Lagos-based audit officer spends most of her working day online. There are spreadsheets stored in the cloud, PowerPoint presentations, video meetings and a growing collection of Chrome tabs she never quite gets around to closing. Twenty gigabytes barely lasts half a week. Data has become more expensive, but Okweni is not searching for alternatives. Certainly not among the dozens of telecom operators that have appeared on paper over the last three years. “I don’t think I really need another one,” she said. “And I’ll be concerned if they can maintain the service over time.” That response is becoming familiar in Nigeria’s telecom industry. Since 2023, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has licensed 46 Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), companies that lease network capacity from existing operators and sell voice and data services under their own brands. The regulator hoped the new entrants would inject competition into a market long dominated by MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile. Most are still trying to get noticed.

The numbers tell a different story

Take Vitel Wireless. The company became the first MVNO to launch commercially in October 2025. Yet NCC data showed no active subscribers on its network between November 2025 and March 2026. During that same period, the number of customers who ported into the network increased from five to 17. Vitel disputes those figures, saying official reporting does not always capture subscriber growth immediately. The company insists it has built a customer base since launch. The disagreement says as much about Nigeria’s MVNO market as the numbers themselves. Three years after the NCC opened the door to virtual operators, the sector remains largely theoretical. Licences have been issued. Announcements have been made. Yet outside industry circles, few consumers can name a single MVNO.

A market that looked ready

The contrast is striking because the ingredients appear to be in place. Nigeria’s internet economy is expanding. Smartphone adoption continues to rise. More people are working remotely, streaming video, using cloud services and spending larger portions of their income on connectivity. In theory, that should make life easier for new telecom providers. Instead, many are discovering that entering the market is easier than surviving in it. Every MVNO depends on the infrastructure of an existing operator. Before selling a single gigabyte of data, they must negotiate access agreements with companies that already dominate the market. Those companies have little incentive to make life easy for newcomers. MTN and Airtel account for more than 86% of Nigeria’s mobile subscribers. They also spend hundreds of billions of naira expanding and maintaining their networks. Their advantages extend beyond infrastructure to distribution, brand recognition and customer trust.

The price of being virtual

For a new operator, buying network capacity is only the beginning. Billing platforms, SIM provisioning systems, customer support, cybersecurity tools and regulatory compliance all cost money. Much of the technology is imported and paid for in dollars, while revenue is earned in naira. The economics have surprised some entrants. “People thought that being an MVNO was just having an API call,” telecom analyst Sadiq Mohammed told TechCabal. “But the investments required run into millions of dollars.”

Why regulators wanted more competition

Consumers, meanwhile, continue to complain about expensive data and inconsistent service. Remote software engineer Frank Akogun keeps subscriptions with multiple providers because he no longer trusts a single network to remain reliable. “I don’t have the luxury of sticking to one provider,” he said. That frustration is precisely why the NCC wanted more competition. The problem is that consumer dissatisfaction alone does not create a successful telecom operator. Nigeria has licensed 46 MVNOs. What it does not yet have is evidence that customers are willing to leave the networks they already know for the ones still trying to introduce themselves.