VietNamNet Bridge – The number of IPv6 users in Viet Nam is limited by the lack of IPv6 supported devices, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

After implementing a national action plan on IPv6, Viet Nam is now ranked 79th among 258 countries in using the protocol. -- Photo via

IPv6, which includes an improved option mechanism over IPv4, enlarges the number of IP addresses and allows electronic devices to automatically configure factors for Internet connection.

Only one software firm, 20 website owners and 35 website dot vn (.vn) operators use IPv6. Six manufacturers, including Viettel and FPT Telecom, are producing IPv6 supported devices.

"The capacity and appearance of IPv6 in Viet Nam has limitations because there is no support for input and output devices and content service providers do not use the technology," said Nguyen Truong Thanh, head of the technical department under the Viet Nam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC).

According to VNNIC, Viet Nam is now 79th among the 258 countries using Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6).

IPv4 addresses ran out in 2011, so countries concentrated on developing IPv6 while still using IPv4. More than 7 per cent of the top 50 websites utilise IPv6, according to web information company Alexa's statistics.

In Viet Nam, the Ministry of Information and Communications issued a three-phase national action plan on IPv6 in 2011. It consists of preparations from 2011-12, introduction from 2013-15 and transformation from 2016-19.

Thanh said that IPv6 in Viet Nam was given the green light when the Government gave priority to IPv6 for information technology projects in the State budget.

Thanh said that enterprises now needed to ensure they had infrastructure to support IPv4 and IPv6 at the same time.

Higher production costs of IPv6 enabled devices

Meanwhile, manufacturers are bemoaning the fact that producing IPv6 enabled devices is not profitable due to the high input material costs, which raise retail prices.

Viettel's representative Tran Van Thanh said the company had successfully produced Wifi Router and EOC devices (which decodes internet signals), but could not commercialise them due to the high production costs.

"Producing IPv6 devices require terminal devices to have higher standards such as chipsets over 400Mhz with higher requirements of RAM (Random Access Memory) and ROM (Read Only Memory)," Thanh said. "The total costs raised the prices of IPv6 enabled devices by 20 per cent."

Meanwhile, Tran Huu Quyen, vice chairman of VNPT Technology, a subsidiary of Viet Nam Post and Telecom Group (VNPT), said his company was considering producing a number of devices that support IPv6 technology such as Access Point Wifi and Set Top Box.

"There are a number of policies encouraging the production of IPv6 enabled devices, but they are still very abstract and not clear enough for us to put into reality," he said..

Source: VNS