ip allocation – Internetblog.org.uk

Indian government seeks to regulate IP allocation

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:47:23 +0000

Given the increasing scarcity of IP addresses, especially in rapidly developing countries, it’s no wonder that the Indian government now wants the ability to regulate IP allocation.

The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) currently governs IP distribution in the region. If India can obtain permission from the organization to hand out addresses, it would mean that users could obtain IPs more quickly and for a lower price.

An ISP executive stated:

At present, if one wants an IP address that entity has to pay the retail price directly to APNIC. If an Indian NIR is set up, it will buy IP addresses from APNIC on wholesale rates and then resell it to Indian corporates at much lower rates

Because a national IP allocation system would reduce APNIC’s revenue, it is unlikely that the agency will be eager to accept the change.

Source | Hindu Business Line
Photo | Flickr

China feels the IP squeeze

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:38:16 +0000

As IPv4 addresses run out, those countries with the fastest-growing number of Internet users will run low on IPs first. A perfect example of this is China, which currently adds more people to the web per year than any other country in the world.

According to Wu Hequan from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the land of the Great Wall is set to run out of IP addresses in two or three years. Compared to the rest of the world, it is in decent shape.

The problem is, this calculation assumes that computer deployment will continue to increase at the same rate. As tech devices like computers, cell phones, and PDAs become less expensive, adoption rises at a disproportionate rate.

IPv6 adoption so far only extends to Chinese universities. It is my guess that the number of addresses needed by this economic powerhouse will increase much more quickly than Hequan predicts. China has the disadvantage of being a relatively late Internet adopter, so when IPs were first allocated, it didn’t receive nearly as many as Western nations.

Source | People’s Daily Online

Report shows world IP address distribution is uneven

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:00:52 +0000

A recently published document, entitled Internet IP Address 2009 Report, yields some interesting information about IP address allocation around the world.

IPs are far from evenly distributed. According to the report, the United States holds more IPv4 addresses than any other country– 37.14%. Trailing far behind with the second-greatest number of IPs is the UK with 11.37%. Third is China and fourth is Japan with 7.08% and 6.95% respectively.

Pacific islands and undeveloped or sparsely populated nations had the lowest number of IP addresses. North Korea, Pitcairn, Central African Republic, the Isle of Man, Jersey, and Liberia were among the lowest. Two countries famous for their free domains, Tokelau and Niue, also ranked extremely low.

Unless developing countries adopt IPv6 or find a way to share IPv4 addresses, they may find themselves out of luck when they wish to bring more of their citizens online. It’s no surprise that those countries that were first to connect to the Internet hold the greatest percentage of addresses. As the old saying goes, the early bird gets the worm.