HÀ NỘI – The rate of IPv6 usage in Việt Nam was reported at only 0.03 per cent, 300 times lower than the world’s average rate at 10.4 per cent.

The figures were released at a conference on IPv6 organised by Việt Nam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC) to celebrate “Việt Nam IPv6 Day” in Hà Nội late last week.

According to statistics from CISCO, APNIC and Google, IPv4 is the fourth version in the development of the Internet Protocol, which is one of the core protocols of standards, based on Internet working methods and routes most of the traffic on the Internet.

Meanwhile, IPv6 is the upgraded version of IPv4, with larger address space, which will help deal with IPv4 exhaustion.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tâm said that as the ministry had early realised the challenges of exhausting IPv4, it released instructions in 2008 to boost the IPv4 to IPv6 transition, aiding the development of Internet usage.

“As the trend of Internet of Things (IoT) technology has become a reality and will soon be booming in Việt Nam, the demand for IPv6 will become more urgent,” Tâm said.

To meet this requirement, the ministry has established a task force to further develop IPv6.

According to Tâm, 2016-2020 is the key period in which developing and providing services on the IPv6 platform will help increase Internet traffic on the platform.

The deputy minister said that one of the aims of the task force was to create a stable eco-system among Internet service providers and IT application providers.

Only when we create an eco-system can the IPv6 traffic be increased, he said.

“The ministry will work with the task force to review all legal documents, mechanisms and policies to support the development of services on the IPv6 platform, creating opportunities for IPv6 traffic to increase in the future”, he added.

In addition, Trần Minh Tân, VNNIC director, said that the country expected to lift the rate from 0.03 per cent to between one and two per cent by Việt Nam IPv6 Day next year.

Tân said that the country had gone through five years implementing the national action plan on IPv6 with the overall objective of having safe and stable operations.

The Internet infrastructure in Vietnam is ready, while enterprises were ready on human resources, as well as having fruitful conditions to roll out IPv6 services to customers, he added.

The director also emphasised that according to the roadmap implementing the national action programme on IPv6, this year played an important role as the start of the third implementation phase, the transition phase, which would last from now until 2019.

This is also the longest, most important and most decisive time for the application of IPv6 in the country’s Internet activities, the director said. – VNS