Internet ₦/GB in Nigeria — when fibre beats mobile, and when it doesn't

If you treat data the way Nigerians treat petrol — a recurring monthly bill, not a one-off splurge — then ₦/GB becomes the only number that matters. Our /internet tracker computes effective ₦/GB across mobile (MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile) and fixed-line (Spectranet, ipNX, Tizeti, Starlink, FibreOne). The May 2026 leaderboard tells a clear story: at high volumes, fibre crushes mobile; at low volumes, the install cost kills fibre economics.

Mobile baseline. As we covered in our MTN vs Glo breakdown, the cheapest mainstream mobile plan is Glo's 75GB/month at ~₦187/GB. MTN's biggest mobile bundle (1.5TB/year) drops to ~₦155/GB if you actually use it all, but most users don't — the realised ₦/GB is closer to ₦250.

Fibre and fixed wireless. Spectranet's 200GB/month plan at ₦24,500 is ₦122/GB. Tizeti's wireless 'unlimited' at ₦20,500 caps at fair-use roughly 250GB, working out to ₦82/GB if you push it. FibreOne 100Mbps unlimited at ₦35,000 is roughly ₦70-90/GB at heavy household use. Starlink's residential plan at ₦38,000/month is unlimited and roughly ₦60-95/GB once you cross 400GB. Verdict: fibre wins above ~80GB/month on the recurring number alone.

The install-cost catch. Spectranet equipment + install is ₦35,000-₦55,000. Starlink hardware is ₦440,000 one-time (after the 2025 price cut from ₦590K). FibreOne install in Lekki/VI is free with a 12-month commit, ₦35K otherwise. Amortise these over 24 months and add to the monthly bill: a ₦440K Starlink kit adds ₦18,300/month equivalent — pushing the effective ₦/GB on a 400GB month from ₦95 to ₦141, suddenly competitive with mobile rather than crushing it.

Location matters more than provider. FibreOne and ipNX coverage is essentially Lagos Island + Lekki + Ikoyi + Abuja CBD. Spectranet covers most of metro Lagos, Abuja, PH, Ibadan, Kano. Tizeti is patchy outside Lagos. Starlink works literally anywhere with sky view — which is why it dominates rural and northeast use despite the install cost. For Lagos Island professionals, FibreOne is unbeatable. For rural or insurgency-affected northeast, Starlink is the only real fibre-class option. For everyone else, Spectranet is the default value pick.

Watching for Q3 2026. The NCC has signalled that the long-rumoured ~15% mobile-tariff adjustment is likely to clear in late Q3 — if it does, Glo's relative ₦/GB advantage widens and Starlink's price-cut anniversary (the 2025 reset that brought hardware down to ₦440K) becomes a one-year benchmark. The /internet hub re-ranks every plan within 24 hours of any provider change, and the weekly newsletter summarises the deltas worth acting on.