The Hindu Business Line : TRAI for migration to next gen Internet protocol

THE Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has suggested migrating the country's Internet backbone to the next generation protocol called the IPv6 — Internet Protocol version 6, to facilitate the growth of broadband and Internet services. The telecom regulator has also suggested creating a National Internet Registry for managing IP addresses in the country.

Giving its recommendation on migrating from the existing standard of IPv4, the telecom regulator said, "With the increased Internet penetration, newer devices, applications and services are likely to be deployed. This will generate a greater demand of IP addresses by the Internet users in the country.

"In addition, Internet users are also aspiring for better quality of service, mobility and security, while using the Internet. The existing version of Internet protocol, IPv4 seems to be lagging behind in catering to these newer challenges."

The features of the latest version would enable devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, home appliances and computers to be linked to the Internet. TRAI has, however, concluded that migration to IPv6 should not be mandated but facilitated by the Government.

No fiscal sops: Also, no fiscal incentives have been recommended, as the cost involved in IPv6 migration is insignificant. The industry had sought fiscal support to meet the cost incurred in migrating to the new protocol.

"The major thrust of recommendations is in setting up of test beds for experimentation in IPv6 technologies, creation of a National Internet Registry in the country, bringing awareness about IPv6 through the Government machinery and usage of IPv6 in e-governance projects and Government's networks," TRAI said.

The TRAI move is in addition to the initiative taken by the Government, which has set up an IPv6 Implementation Group (IPIG) to chart out the roadmap to the new Internet version. For Internet users, the new version would mean more space on the world-wide-web and better security.

National registry: On setting up a national registry for managing IP addresses in India, TRAI said the existing system was cumbersome and costly for smaller operators.

In order to procure IP addresses from Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC), which is a regional Internet Registry as a representative of central body, Internet Assigned Numbering Agency (IANA), ISPs either need to take membership of APNIC or approach upstream ISP.

Each member of APNIC is required to pay annual membership fee in the range of $625 to $2,500, in addition to a one-time initial fee of $2,500.

"Smaller ISPs, generally, are not familiar with the APNIC procedures and also are not aware of the operational processes and therefore prefer to source the IP addresses from their upstream ISP from whom they procure the International Internet Connectivity," TRAI said.

A National Internet Registry (NIR) is a national resource allocation agency that provides domain name, IP registration and other supporting services to the service providers.