Regional IPv6 Adoption Statistics

31/05/2021

IPv6 adoption figures have improved over the past six months in Latin America and the Caribbean. Some South American countries have significant IPv6 penetration rates, noted LACNIC CTO Carlos Martínez during the LACNIC 35 online event.

A ranking comprised of eight countries is led by Brazil and Uruguay, followed by Ecuador and then Peru, where IPv6 deployment has started to grow once again after a few years during which it remained stable. These two are followed by Paraguay, a country where IPv6 “has grown significantly,” and Argentina.

Martínez also mentioned the situation in Colombia and Bolivia. In the case of Colombia, he highlighted the fact that in 2020 IPv6 deployment “grew significantly in a very short period of time.”

In his presentation, Martínez noted the newfound drive of Central America and Mexico. There, Mexico continues to lead IPv6 deployment with a penetration rate of more than 40% which continues to grow rapidly. In Guatemala, one of the first Central American countries to deploy IPv6, numbers have started to grow once again. Honduras and El Salvador are also showing signs of deployment.

Martínez admitted that the Caribbean is the region where IPv6 growth is still lagging. “Traditionally, for various reasons this region is the most difficult for us to reach. Perhaps Caribbean economies do not perceive IPv6 as a pressing need,” he added. There, Trinidad and Tobago is a very interesting case of IPv6 deployment, just as the Dominican Republic, which is now beginning to deploy the v6 protocol.

50% increase. Martínez also shared IPv6 routing table statistics, commenting that these numbers had surprised him.

The reason for this is that, for a long time, the size of the IPv6 routing table was marginal compared to the IPv4 table. Now, however, the IPv4 table has been growing linearly while the IPv6 table is growing exponentially, with a yearly increase of 50%. “Last May, this number was half of what it is now, and that’s a remarkable change,” Martínez concluded.