ATCON Urges NCC on IPv6 Migration Guidelines to Avoid Disaster

Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has urged the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to set guidelines for the transition from Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) transition to v6 to ensure Nigerians enjoy the improvements to addressing, configuration and maintenance, and security of the internet.

Engineer LanreAjayi, ATCON, while speaking during network engineers’ training session, hosted by the Association in partnership with VDT Communications and AFRINIC, said though there are no deadline to IPv6 transition, but that the NCC can opt to set the tune to help bring the issue to the front-burner.

He cited Nigeria’s failure to meet the International Telecommunications Union (ITU’s) 2015 digital broadcasting transition and warned that it might be repeated with the IP version transition.

“NCC as a national Commission should cautiously rollout IPv6 transition policy. When they implement policies in that regards, it may set a deadline, particularly in the area of type approval. Therefore, they should begin to monitor the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to ensure that technology equipment and devices imported into the Country are IPV6 complaint.

IPv6 represents the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet.

On the disadvantages of not transiting to IPv6, Ajayi, added that Nigeria and most African nations, with consumerism posture, stand to lose their places in the internet community, “hence the OEMs after transiting will simply stop manufacturing them and we will be completely left out.

 To ensure the message of IPv6 goes beyond the IT industry, he said that, more advocacy is needed.

However, Ajayi argued, although the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) relevance in the push for migration cannot be voided, however, the onus does not lie squarely on the Association.

He said, “NiRA is not an IP Organisation, rather associated with domain name. NiRA is to name, AFRINIC is number. So, AFRINIC is responsible for issuing number to devices/individuals/organizations in the African region. It’s not within the purview of NiRA, but there is a relationship between domain names and IP numbers. IP number is compulsory for every device connected to the internet, but domain names are easier to remember.

For instance, CommunicationsWeek.com.ng is a name, but the server hosting the domain name has an IP addressed. So, it will be easier to remember CommunicationsWeek.com.ng than the IP number, probably, 000.123…

“NITDA also has a responsibility. Last year they supported in training engineers in readiness to the transition. As an IT development Agency NITDA has responsibility in anything that is IT related.