June deadline awaits ISPs still on IP version 4

Erstwhile President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, has revealed that on June 8, this year, all internet service providers (ISPs) who have not migrated from Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to IPv6 would be denied access on the internet, reports CHARLES OKOH.

Ekuwem who was speaking at the third annual Nigeria DigitalSENSE Forum on Internet Governance in Lagos, last week, said the denial of access to ISPs, which would mean that subscribers would be denied access to their email boxes, is expected to last for one day to serve as warning to those who are yet to migrate.

Ekuwem who is also the Chairman of Teledom Group, expressed appreciation to former President Olusegun Obasanjo for liberalizing the sector, just as he called on universities in the country to ensure internet access to students within their institutions.

“Internet is an access to acquiring knowledge. Universities without internet should close down and parents should make internet and computer available to their children to prepare them to compete globally,” he said.

Speaking at the forum also, Chief Executive Officer, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Mr. Muhammed Rudman said the Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) has exhausted IPv4 since February 3, this year.

Rudman said the initial design of IPv4 was to serve a few institutions but with rapid development it became necessary to introduce IPv6.

He also said some of the benefits of the IPv6 include its scalability, security, real time application, auto configuration, mobility, addressing and routing as well as its extensibility.

Rudman identified core equipment compatibility issues, lack of IPv6 upstream services providers, non requests from end users as some of the challenges facing IPv6 migration in the country.

Moving forward, he called for awareness and capacity building, establishment of a National Internet Registry and provision of incentives to encourage ISPs to embrace IPv6.

He also said upstream internet connectivity providers should be asked to enable IPv6 readiness in their networks, just as he charged the government to lead the way by ensuring compliance by its ministries, departments and agencies.

In his contribution at the forum, the President, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Dr. Chris Uwaje lamented that enough capacity is not being built to face the huge challenge facing the nation in ICT in the near future.

“Cyber cafes can be converted to ICT classroom that is a way of building capacity. Our youths should be thinking of creating employment rather than seeking for paid jobs,” he said.

On her part, Mrs. Yetunde John, who represented the president Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA) Mrs. Mary Uduma, while speaking on; Exploring .ng goldmine for the common good, said .ng is Nigerian property on the internet and if not used the nation could miss the benefits.

Uduma said .ng doman name is a way of checking the negative thinking of the rest of the world against Nigeria.

She said some of the challenges in pushing the .ng forward is as a result of the negative impact of the activities of advanced fee fraud (419).

Others she added included competition from established generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) and country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) as well as lack of awareness of its benefits.

Earlier in her welcome address, the convener of the forum and Executive Director of DigitalSense Africa, Mrs. Nkemdilim Nweke, said the need to articulate the nation’s position preparatory to the global Internet Governance forum necessitated the event.

She also said establishment of legal framework for internet usage would ensure optimal use of it, just as she called on the Federal Government to address issues bordering on security, high cost access and devices as well as ensuring that all schools from primary to tertiary have well-equipped computer laboratories.

“For us at DigitalSense Africa, access to the internet should be a right and not a privilege; hence we wish to reiterate the call made at this floor last year that access to internet should be declared the right of every Nigerian,” she said.

The forum, which had as its theme; Internet Governance and Broadband Evolution in Nigeria, lasted for two days and was attended by students, operators as well as several other industry stakeholders.

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