The Current IPv6 Eruption in China

The Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Address Registry (APNIC), has noted a significant rise in IPv6 usage by China Telecom, the nation's leading provider of Internet services. While rivals China Unicom and China Mobile dominate mobile internet connections, more than 150 million users depend on China Telecom for wireline services, and the company operates extensive national and metropolitan networks on which its mobile-centric rivals depend.

APNIC states that when China revealed its "Action Plan for the Promotion of the Large-Scale Deployment of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) in 2017," the IPv6 adoption by the country was stable in low single figures. When comes to 2018, the IPv6 adoption over the country began to increase dramatically. Analysis of these efforts by APNIC Labs indicates that China Telecom's metro network in Shanghai was 13.59 percent IPv6 capable in late 2020, although similar spikes can be identified in other cities. Higher IPv6 adoption rates have been reached by other carriers.

APNIC claims that the IPv6 capability leap suggests that broader deployments are possible, as IPv6 islands are unhelpful. China is planning very widespread rollout of 5G, rapid deployment of Internet of Things technology to allow, and testing of self-driving cars on public roads approved recently. All of which will establish a demand for lots of IP addresses. Network Address Translation is now mature enough that the limited number of IPv4 addresses available is no longer a major limitation, but the massive scale of IPv6 will allow China to realise its related goals as well as create complications.

Source from: The Registry