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Nigeria: poor adoption of IPv6 a threat say telco bodies

Nigeria , 30 Aug 2016

Nigeria: poor adoption of IPv6 a threat say telco bodies

Various bodies representing Nigeria's telecommunications industry have urged local ISPs and content producers to embrace Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in order to help increase the country's internet penetration level.

The African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC), the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the University of Ibadan have added their respective voices to the general call for a widespread migration from IPv4 to IPv6.

Speaking at a forum on Internet Number Resources Management (INRM) and IPv6, hosted by the AFRINIC, President of NiRA, Sunday Folayan, argued that IPv6 will make available Internet addresses that are billion to trillion times larger than the total pool of IPv4 addresses – about 4.3 billion.

"IPV6 is virtually inexhaustible for the foreseeable growth of the domain name system due to the opening of the new TLDs and the emerging Internet of Things (IoT)," said Folayan. "Most developed world have already embraced IPv6 competing for positions in the global ranking on IPv6 adoption. Major content producers such as Google, Facebook (and) Microsoft, have all adapted IPv6 giving the opportunity to IPv6 networks access to their content."

He added that while Nigeria is not the only African country lagging behind in IPv6 adoption, it is generally behind other countries.

Out of 103 Autonomous System Numbers registered in Nigeria, only four are live on IPv6 and these are not propagating IPv6 properly said Folayan.

The four belong to MainOne Cable Company, Internet Solution Limited, Nigerian Research and Education Network and ipNX Nigeria Limited. The protocol is partial at KKON Technologies and FBN capital.

"It is noteworthy to mention that over 30 organisations have acquire IPv6 from AFRINIC, but most of them are not using it," he said.

The President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola noted that IPv6 is long overdue. He said the majority of the country's networks are not IPv6 compatible and this poses a significant threat to ICT development.

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