Telecom

Companies’ Snail Speed to IPv6 Migration Worries ATCON

Published

4 months ago

June 15, 2017

The need to migrate to IPv6 is long overdue and the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) is not particularly happy that majority of networks in Nigeria are not Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) compatible.

According to Mr. Olusola Teniola, president of ATCON, networks’ snail-pace to adopting IPv6 poses a threat to Nigerian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development.

Teniola bared his mind at the commencement at a three-day international capacity building and enhancement workshop on IPv6 hosted by ATCON in collaboration with Africa Network Information Centre (AFRINIC), in Lagos, stressing that the Nigerian ICT sector can no longer afford to take the back seat in the global ICT development.

To leapfrog the adoption of IPv6, he said, the Association has taken a further step to involve the two key major stakeholders –the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) “and we are happy that these two important government establishment have bought into the future we are trying to create around the Nigerian ICT space”.

The National Executive Council of ATCON, under the leadership of Mr Teniola intends to enlarge the scope of the workshop to Nigerian IPv6 Conference by next year’s edition.

The Association’s President said that the direct implication of the proposed move by ATCON is to widen the market and accelerate the adoption and implementation of IPv6 for the good of the industry.

“The dividend pervasive broadband may be farfetched if as an industry or a country we are not working towards broadband meeting with technology. As we all know that when Internet of Things (IoTs) take their place in our country an individual may need more than ten IP addresses to enjoy the benefits that comes with IoTs.

engineers in the implementation and deployment of IPv6 for Nigerian ICT/telecoms development; the need to enhance the performance of our Network Engineers on network management with the ultimate goal of ensuring the sustainable growth of the Nigerian Telecom Industry is second to none globally. “Other reasons why ATCON has invested and is still investing heavily in the adoption of IPv6 are as follows: to increase the productivity and contribution level of our network

“We also want to provide Nigerian Network Engineers with the required knowledge to compete favourably with their counterparts in the global market; provision of quality training for those engineers that manage our networks which would help in tackling the problem of quality of service in the telecommunication industry; to provide impetus for Nigerian Network operators to migrate fromIPv4 to IPv6 with its attendant advantages.

“We encourage all our members to migrate to IPv6 so that the knowledge acquired in this four-day training could be put to use in their various organizations.

On his part, Mr. Abba Brice, AFRINIC representative said that apart from IPv6 addresses are based on 128 bits whereas IPv4 addresses are based on 32 bits, advantages of adopting IPV6 offers network administrators the visibility of each IP address based on preference.

This allows companies to keep IP addresses public, but still secure when transmitting between private networks.

According to him, AFRINIC understands the migration is capital intensive, but as more and more businesses are supporting VoIP, telework (i.e. videoconferences) and mobile work policies, removing dependency on network address translation (NAT) can dramatically increase network simplicity.

Deploying IPv6 infrastructure can also help businesses improve network performance and assure optimal performance within the network architecture, especially in ensuring secured network.

“IPv6 is the only technology currently available to directly connect large numbers of people and devices, as there are not enough unique addresses to give every mobile device a true end-to-end Internet presence. So, companies in Africa are encouraged to migrate to IPv6 as some devices in the market are already complaint”, Mr. Brice said.

By returning the Internet to an end-to-end model, IPv6 will unleash new opportunities and waves of innovation.

Supporting ATCON’s moves, Dr Isa Pantami, director general of NITDA, said that networks’ migration to IPv6 is another way to unleash knowledge economy in the country.

Dr. Pantami said that advanced countries have moved from a natural resource based economy to a knowledge based economy, and this was achieved through massive capacity development and implementation of IT.

“These countries have not only been able to develop IT, but have also utilized IT in the development of other socio-economic sectors of their country so that these sectors can generate wealth and recognition for the country”, he said.

The DG said, although IP version 4 is still very pervasive in the world today, however its usefulness will soon fade because of its limited address space, limited mobility, limited management, limited security, and the inability to support innovative and complex technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), cloud services, IP telephony, and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

“The IoT implementation for example will benefit from IPv6 abundance of IP address space of over a quadrillion addresses (3.4 x 1038). This address space can be assigned to every atom on earth and still have trillions of addresses left.

“This capacity for near infinite address space will drive these technologies which will in turn help with the advancement of every sector of the economy of Nigeria. Let me put it to you that the best time to start the implementation of IPv6 is now.

“The international registries like IANA, announced as long ago as 2011 that it had no more blocks of IPv4 left to distribute. Asia-Pacific registry APNIC reached IPv4 exhaustion in 2011, the same fate was experienced by European RIPE-NCC registry in 2012 and South American LACNIC in 2014. Even the North American registry. ARIN reached its final stages of IPv4 in 2014. These statistics show that IPv4 has outlived its usefulness and IPv6 is here to take over,” he said.

He further pledged NITDA’s resolve to collaborate with IPv6 council Nigeria, relevant government organizations and the academia to roll out standards/guidelines and roadmap on the implementation of IPv6 in the country.

Telecom

NCC: US Delegation‎ Visits Commission, Lauds Regulatory Strides

Published

1 day ago

October 20, 2017

Ugo Onwuaso

(L-R): Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, NCC; Rachel Atwood Mendiola, Manager, U.S Embassy; Engr. Ubale Ahmed Maska, Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, NCC; Mudari Aliyu Dura

Nigerian Communications Commission NCC, Thursday, received a delegation from the United States Embassy in Abuja,

The team, led by Rachel Atwood Mendiola, Fraud Prevention Manager, United States Embassy, was received by the Commission’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive, Prof. Umar Danbatta and other top Management staff of the Commission.

The delegation was at the Nigerian Communications Commission’s Head Office to gain insight into the workings of the Commission and to commend NCC’s Management for its regulatory strides in sustaining the growth of the telecommunication industry in Nigeria.

Prof.Danbatta while addressing the delegation, recalled to the admiration of his guests some of the Commission’s efforts in ensuring effective regulation of the telecoms sector and providing an enabling environment for telecoms services to flourish, exponentially attributing the Commission’s successes to the faith reposed on it by the consumers and their unflinching loyalty.

And that is, the reason the Commission commits itself irrevocably to protecting the interest of consumers and all stakeholders in the industry.

He told his guests that, “NCC continues to be a strategic member and active participant in the activities of many bodies including the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), African Telecommunications Union (ATU), and the West Africa Telecommunication Regulators Assembly (WATRA).”

To demonstrate the resilience of the telecommunication sector even in the face of challenging economic climate, Danbatta stayed that the sector contributed about 9.5% to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in the second quarter of 2017 and credited the Nigerian telecom consumers with the successes recorded because of their patronage.

The EVC/CEO of NCC said it is the faith the consumers have demonstrated in the sector that made the Management of the Commission to declare the 2017 as the Year of the Telecom Consumer to celebrate the primacy of the consumer and to rededicate itself to addressing the challenges of the consumer.

Telecom

NCC Ignores Telcos, Says No to OTT Regulation

Published

2 days ago

October 20, 2017

Comms Week

Prof Umar Garuba Danbatta, NCC’s executive vice chairman

Nigerian Communications Commission [NCC] has said it can’t regulate Over The Top Technology [OTT] for now, refusing the telecom operators’ call that the technology be regulated in the country.

OTT operators are firms like Facebook, WhatsApp, 2go, Instagram and others who ride on social media to reach their audience.

Prof Umar Garuba Danbatta, NCC’s executive vice chairman disclosed this Thursday when a delegation from the United States [US] embassy paid a working visit to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

‘’ The operators are saying we should do something about the OTT. That the OTT is riding on their infrastructure to make money and all other. But it will be very difficult to regulate OTT,” Prof Danbatta said.

According to him, though NCC understands the operators’ plight ‘’ the truth is that there is nothing we can do for now’’.

The NCC EVC, said he had interacted with head of telecom industry’s regulatory agencies in US and some other advanced economies and he was indirectly told that OTT couldn’t be regulated for now.

He also said NCC couldn’t regulate content in the social media as this falls within the jurisdiction of its sister regulatory agency, the National Broadcasting Commission [NBC].

He also told the US embassy delegation which was led by Rachael Atwood Mendiola to convince US investors to come and invest in Nigeria’s telecom industry as this is the best time to stake their money in the country.

‘’We want investors to come and invest in telecoms infrastructure across the country. I believe they will make their money in no time. Our investment environment is becoming friendlier, our security has improved greatly and the Federal Government had promised some number of incentives for would-be investors.

‘’ Plus we still have access gap. We still have about 200 locations across the country yet to have telecom services. This has cut off about 40million people, including people in my local government in Kano. So, investors can come in and take this opportunities.’’, he said.

But he said the NCC was working to see the access gaps blocked in the next two years.

Telecom

Nigeria to Increase Mobile Broadband Subscriptions to 50% by 2020

Published

2 days ago

October 20, 2017

Ugo Onwuaso

NCC headquarters, Abuja, Nigeria

By peter oluka

Nigeria has disclosed plans to increasing the current coverage of the active mobile broadband subscription per 100 from 20.95 per cent to 50 per cent by 2020.

This was disclosed by Mr Bolaji Akinremi, minister plenipotentiary, Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN, while delivering Nigeria’s statement on ‘Information and Communications Technologies for Development’ at the UN General Assembly’s debate in New York.

Active mobile broadband subscription is the number of subscriptions to mobile cellular networks with access to data communications – like the Internet – at broadband downstream speeds of 256 kilobit per second.

Nigeria’s mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants increased from 1.0 inhabitant in 2012 to 11.7 inhabitants in 2016.

Akinremi said Nigeria recognised the direct impact of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) on the wellbeing of Nigerians.

“The Government of Nigeria recognises the reality that Information and Communications Technologies has direct impact on the nation’s ability to improve the economic wellbeing of its people.

“The Government of Nigeria is committed to facilitating universal availability and cost-effective access to communications infrastructure and promoting utilisation of ICT in all spheres of life.

“Nigeria is committed to achieving cutting-edge global ICT standards, encourage rapid ICT penetration among all socio-economic levels.

“The Government of Nigeria is also committed to increasing the current coverage of the active mobile broadband subscription per 100 from 20.95 per cent to 50 per cent by 2020.

“Nigeria is committed to promoting and encouraging local production of ICT hard and software so as to reduce import dependence and generate foreign exchange by exporting to the regional and continental markets”.

He said that involving developing countries in the ICT revolution would bridge the wide gap of access to information among people.

According to him, if the information gap keeps widening, the possibility of attaining sustainable development by 2030 is not certain.

“It is in this vein that Nigeria further calls on Member States to consider giving Information and Communications Technologies a pride of place in the education curriculum. By so doing, they will undoubted bridge the digital divide,” Akinremi added.