IPv6 addresses have increased by 300 per cent in the past two years, according to new data from the Number Resource Organisation (NRO).

The NRO consists of five Regional Internet Registries (RIR), each representing a different part of the world: Africa, Asia, the North Atlantic region, Latin America and parts of the Caribbean, and Europe and the Middle East. The registries are in charge of critical internet resource allocation and the management of IP address data.

According to the NRO, it is developing economies such as India's that have spurred the deployment of IPv6 addresses.

"Just as many developing countries have leapfrogged the extensive wired telephone network with wireless, new networks and developing countries can bypass IPv4-only networks," said Adiel Akplogan, chief executive of the Africa RIR AfriNIC.

"They can incorporate IPv6 from the start, avoiding much of the transition cost."

The NRO urged more organisations to step up their IPv6 transition. A recent policy by the consortium has guaranteed that each RIR should receive one of the last five available segments of IPv4 address space.

The business sector should start to support the next-generation internet protocol by hosting content on IPv6-enabled web sites, suggested the NRO in a statement after the start of the Internet Governance Forum being held in India this week.

Also, software and hardware vendors should implement IPv6 support in their products "urgently", it added.