The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will submit the final recommendations to the government of India on the proposed transition of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) by December this year.

Devendra P S Seth, member, TRAI, said the final recommendations would be prepared and submitted to the government early next year to pave way for the transition to IPv6. Government has already constituted a group called IPv6 Implementation Group to speed up and facilitate the adoption of IPv6 in the country in early 2006, he said.

Worldwide the new IPv6 is being implemented on the Internet to accommodate increased number of users and take care of security concerns. In the Broadband Policy 2004, the government has envisaged broadband and internet subscribers of 20 million and 40 million by 2010 respectively through various Internet and broadband technologies.

India has merely 2.8 million IPv4 addresses compared to 40 million in China. USA ISP Level-3 alone has more IP addresses than China. India has 0.17 of an address block, while the US has full 75 blocks.

Seth said the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is presently engaged in creating the National IPv6 backbone called India Next Generation Internet (INGI). This would help enhance the integration of the national networks and increase the operational experience on novel Internet services and applications based on the use of IPv6.

( www.business-standard.com)