Foremost telecom regulator on the continent, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) are thudding support for the 2023 Nigeria DigitalSENSE Africa Forum (NDSF) series on Internet Governance for Development (IG4D) slated for Thursday, June 8, in Lagos.

Disclosing this at the weekend, the Lead Consulting Strategist, DigitalSENSE Africa and Group Executive Editor, ITREALMS Media, Mr. Remmy Nweke said that this year’s NDSF comes with the theme: 5G: Data Governance, Safety and Security.

This, he said, has become important due to the recent licensing of Fifth Generation (5G) in the country, just as experts will be lined up to address various subthemes during the forum.

Plans, Nweke said, is in top gear to ensure the forum holding at the prestigious Welcome Centre Hotels, along the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Road, Lagos is successful.

NDSF series on IG4D, he said, is hosted by DigitalSENSE Africa, an At-Large Structure (ALS) certified by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) together with top industry stakeholders like the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), among others.

As said by Nweke, the 2023 NDSF series on IG4D will open for registration by 9am and is free entrance as it comes at no charges to the participants.

He recalled that NCC is the apex regulatory authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria and was created under Decree number 75 by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria on 24 November 1992, with the mandate under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, to properly carry out its regulatory functions and activities, including but not limited to consulting with consumers, commercial and industrial organizations; delegating its functions to a Committee constituted by it, summoning persons to appear before the Commission, establishing and maintaining subsidiaries to enable the discharge of its functions, licensing to name a few.

In addition, he noted that NCC during the recent licensing of telcos for 5G pledged to develop the requisite strategies, standards, guidelines, and frameworks for the successful deployment of the 5G.

IXPN on the other hand, he said, is a neutral and not-for-profit Internet exchange point (IXP) founded in 2006 to reduce connectivity costs in millions of dollars in offshore internet bandwidth payments, reduce latency from 900 milliseconds to 30 milliseconds for local content, serve as the central point for connecting Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) towards the development of National Research and Educational Network (NREN).

Nweke noted that as at April 2022, IXPN has become the 5^th largest IXP in Africa by number of peers, and 3^rd in Africa by traffic according to Packet Clearing House’s IXP directory.

Stressing that IXPN, is reputed as the West Africa’s Regional Internet Exchange Point (WARIXP) that is keen beyond localising a single country-based local internet traffic, and as an African Regional Internet Exchange Point (RIXP) extends this further to localize local internet traffic within a designated African region.

Even as IXPN was chosen by African Union to be the Regional Internet Exchange Point for West African Region, which offers regional traffic localisation, faster internet within West Africa region, lower cost and reachability between network operators in different countries and allows more optimal use of existing connectivity infrastructure in the region.

The Nigeria DigitalSENSE Africa forum is hosted annually by the international award-winning ITREALMS Media under its DigitalSENSE Africa Forum series, and an At-Large Structure (ALS) at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN); as part of efforts for shaping the future of the Internet.

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