Internet costs to go down as Uganda acquires IPv6 machine

UCC Information Technology nanager Micheal Bamwesigye explains how the IPv6 machine works. Photo by Saudha Nakandha                    

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) in partnership with International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on Thursday launched a new technology test bed that is intended to curb cyber-crimes across Uganda and East Africa as a whole.

Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) test bed is the latest version of modern communication technology responsible for internet networking.

In Africa there are three IPv6 machines, that is; in Uganda, Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe.

Godfrey Mutabaazi, the UCC executive director said that the new technology is able to allocate individual internet protocol (IP) number, the location, time and UCC will be able to access information of an individual end user.

Mutabaazi revealed that every computer, mobile phone and any device connected to internet needs a numerical IP address in order to communicate with other devices.

The new machine will also host local content websites to reduce on internet costs.

"I urge all Ugandans to host all their websites with us to reduce on data usage. When we are using IPv6, data charges will reduce because we shall be getting our data locally," he appealed.

What is internet protocol address?

Alain Aina a member of ITU)said that an Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device like computer, or printer participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.

"An IP address serves two principal functions: host or network interface identification and location addressing," he revealed.

In Africa there are three IPv6 machines, that is; in Uganda, Ivory Coast, and Zimbabwe.