Rumor: China's NDRC Establishes RMB 8 Bln IPv6 Fund
CCID, 2/27/12
China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has established a RMB 8 bln specialized fund for next-generation IPv6 internet that will provide government subsidies to up to 100 firms, including telecom operators, equipment vendors, commercial websites, and R&D organizations, according to a source close to the NDRC. The NDRC has issued notices to potential participants requiring that application materials must be submitted before March 15, 2012. China's three telecom operators and equipment manufacturers ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ) and Huawei received their notices as of February 15.
On December 23, 2011, the NDRC announced its IPv6 development targets, namely that small-scale commercial trials commence by the end of 2013, to be followed by the development of large-scale deployment and commercial use and IPv4/IPv6 compatibility in 2014 and 2015.
The notice reveals details of the NDRC's IPv6 roadmap, setting as a first goal that the internet backbone and approximately 10% of metropolitan-area networks (MANs) support IPv6 and the number of IPv6 broadband users exceed 8 mln, followed by the transition of China's 100 most influential companies to IPv6, and requiring all new telecom operator businesses and all new internet-capable fixed-line and mobile devices support IPv6.
The NDRC requires China's three telecom operators to cooperate on upgrading network infrastructure to IPv6 and organizing trials, with each selecting trial cities, upgrading MANs, and providing IPv6 broadband services. The NDRC also encourages influential commercial websites to independently upgrade to IPv6, and will provide post-conversion subsidies to the 50 best adopters.
ZTE's IPv6 chief engineer Kong Yong said that the entire industry supply chain offers mature IPv6 hardware layer products, from core network to MAN and end-user devices. Set-top boxes, internet-ready devices, iPhone, Android and other terminals support IPv6, as do Windows XP and Windows 7. IPv6 transition technology and standards are already basically complete. ZTE has fully participated in China Telecom's (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK) IPv6 trials in Changsha and Wuxi, where MAN P2P IPv6 tests proved successful but backbone-level P2P connection problems persist, with Beijing and Shanghai connections to Changsha's IPv6 network failing, but the issues are expected to be resolved by the end of 2013.
According to an industry source, the key to commercialization of IPv6 lies in pushing adoption by content providers, as most currently garner stable income from IPv4, so have little motivation to switch to IPv6.
Keywords: policy Kong Yong Internet telecom IPv6 NDRC government subsidy
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