China begins nationwide IPv6 rollout

The country's authorities plan to completely transition China to the new version of the IPv6 protocol.

By the end of 2013, the country plans to deploy several small commercial IPv6 networks, with larger-scale implementation of the new network protocol expected to begin in 2014.

By 2015, IPv6 will become the de facto standard for most Chinese ISPs.

At the end of 2010, China's ISPs had approximately 278 million IPv4 addresses, with an internet user base of 450 million. Therefore, the transition to IPv6 became imperative for the country.

He noted that the five largest Chinese telecom providers prepared their networks for IPv6 deployment back in 2006, but have still not begun large-scale implementation of this protocol.