‘Most networks not IPv6 compatible’

As Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPV4), draws near to exhaustion in Africa, stakeholders in the ICT industry are worried that majority of networks in Nigeria are not Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) compatible.

This revelation came to the fore at commencement of a three-day international capacity building and enhancement workshop on IPv6 hosted by the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), in collaboration with Africa Network Information Centre (AFRINIC), in Lagos.

Mr. Olusola Teniola, President of ATCON, said that the need to migrate to IPv6 is long overdue, adding that the networks’ snail-pace to adopting IPv6 poses a threat to Nigerian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development.

Teniola stressed that the Nigerian ICT sector can no longer afford to take the back seat in the global ICT development, stressing that to leapfrog the adoption of IPv6, 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).

“We are happy that these two important government establishments have bought into the future we are trying to create around the Nigerian ICT space,” he said.

According to him, the National Executive Council of ATCON intends to enlarge the scope of the workshop to Nigerian IPv6 conference by next year’s edition in order to widen the market and accelerate the adoption and implementation of IPv6 for the good of the industry.

“The dividend pervasive broadband may be far fetched, 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.

“The 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.”

He said,“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.

Commenting on this development, Mohammed Rudman, Chairman, IPv6 Council Nigeria, said that the declaration by AFRINIC means that the last IPV4Internet address is coming to an end, as Africa is the only region in the world that still has IPV4.

He said that the implication of the exhaustion on Nigeria, which is predominantly using IPV4, is the new Internet service providers, as well as, the existing networks that want to expand their networks will find it difficult to get IPV4, which most networks in Nigeria run on.

He said, “In view of the fact that the resource is nearing exhaustion, it is no longer readily available as it used to be, it is now being rationed and scarce. This means that new service providers will have resort to the use of IPV6 which has more capacity.”

He added: “We have advised network operators long before now to start adopting IPV6 in parallel with IPV4 for them not to face steep learning curve, but gradual. Now that IPV4 is exhausting, they will face difficulties in migration process. However, some networks have acquired IPV6 in Nigeria but are yet to deploy it for use they will
now begin to deploy it for use.”

Mr. Abba Brice, AFRINIC representative said that apart from IPv6 addresses that are based on 128 bits, whereas, IPv4 addresses are based on 32 bits, the 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.
AFRINIC understands that migration is capital intensive, according to him, 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”, Brice said.

By returning the Internet to an end-to-end model, IPv6 will unleash new opportunities and waves of innovation.
Dr Isa Pantami, Director General of NITDA,while supporting ATCON’s position, said that networks’ migration to IPv6 is another way to unleash knowledge economy in the country.

Dr. Pantami disclosed 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 pointed out.

The DG highlighted that 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).

He said,“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.”

He said,“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.”

According to him,“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 hinted that it was 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.

Daily Times’ investigations has revealed that the networks that are currently using the latest version of Internet protocol include, Globacom, IPNX, Internet Solution, Ngren, FBN Capital and MainOne.

These operators represent 5.88 per cent of the number of networks that have acquired the Internet Protocol.
It was also gathered that 32 networks which are made up of telecommunications operators, internet service providers, universities, banks, oil companies among other organisations have acquired IPv6.

The managing director of IXPN and the chairman, IPv6 Council Nigeria, explained that the low migration of telecommunications networks in the country to IPv6 will make it difficult for the country to launch into Internet of Things (IoT) platform.

“We are losing out in the migration as most other regions have migrated to IPv6 which has huge number of IP address compared to IPv4. You cannot launch IoTs on IPv4, which is near exhaustion in Africa, IoT requires a lot of IP address as devices, cars and equipment will be given IP address,” he said.

Rudman attributed the slow rate of migration to lack of economic benefit to telecommunications networks.