A national program is needed to solve the problem of Internet addresses in Israel

Uri Maklev, Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of the Kneset held a discussion on the State of Israel's preparations for implementing the IPV6 protocol. He said that the available IPv4 address pool was exhausted and that there were not enough addresses to support future growth, development and competition in the global market, Smart devices, Internet-based devices of things (IoT), such as smart transportation, smart home and industry and remote monitoring. In contrast, the Next Generation Protocol (IPv6) ensures the availability of new IP addresses for the distant future and is expected to maintain Israel's position as a leader in innovation worldwide.
Communications Ministry Director-General Nati Cohen emphasized that the ministry has made a strategic decision to promote the adoption of the new protocol as part of a comprehensive strategy to promote the field of communications infrastructure in Israel, Told the Ministry of Communications that Israel's position vis-à-vis the rest of the world in adopting the protocol is very low and continues to deteriorate. The existing protocol includes 4.3 billion IP addresses, and they are running low, mainly because of the increasing need for addresses for various objects (autonomous cars, cities and smart homes, etc.). We hope that by 2022 the protocol will be used by 40% of Internet users in Israel in a way that will position Israel in line with the leading countries in the world. He noted that today there is no shortage of addresses, but it is necessary to prepare five and ten years ahead, in order to prevent a problem.
According to Yoram Hacohen, CEO of the Israeli Internet Association, the address shortage is already felt, as reflected in the high price of an old IPv4 address, which ranges from $ 12 to $ 14. In normal circumstances, the price should be zero, The Internet and may eventually be reflected in the consumer price.In the new protocol the cost of each Internet address will be negligible because of the large quantity.
Doron Shakmoni, a cyber and Internet expert, claimed that the process of adoption of the new protocol to date indicates market failure and the need for government intervention through two steps: one is the obligation of communications providers to provide IPv6 addresses to end users and adoption of the standard by government ministries. And the second - to implement the new protocol as a binding standard in all future government engagements.
Yotam Erez, Chief Technology Officer of the Israeli ICT Authority, added that the preparation of the government infrastructure for future support of the new protocol is in the work plan of the government ICT for 2019. The XFON representative who attended the discussion said that adopting the new protocol is the only way to work in the IoT era.
The chairman of the committee, MK Uri Maklev, congratulated the Ministry of Communications on the initiative and long-term thinking and expressed his satisfaction with the seriousness shown in the discussion.