Originally published March 15, 2012 | Substantially updated October 20, 2026
Back in March 2012, I wrote about an important development in India’s Internet infrastructure. The country had established its own National Internet Registry, known as the Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN). At the time, this was an interesting step in the continued development of the Internet in one of the world’s most populous countries.
Fast forward to 2026, and the story has become much more interesting.
India has emerged as a global leader in IPv6 adoption, and the organizations responsible for managing Internet number resources and interconnection within the country continue to play important roles in that development.
Let’s revisit what happened in 2012, explain how Internet registries actually work, and look at what has changed since then.
First, What Is an Internet Registry?
Before discussing India specifically, it helps to understand how Internet number resources are managed.
The Internet relies on globally coordinated resources, particularly IP addresses and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs). These resources must be allocated and registered so that networks can operate and exchange routing information across the global Internet.
At the highest level, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), operated by ICANN, coordinates global IP address and ASN resources.
Those resources are distributed through five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs):
- ARIN — American Registry for Internet Numbers
- RIPE NCC — Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre
- APNIC — Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
- LACNIC — Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre
- AFRINIC — African Network Information Centre
Each RIR serves a particular geographic region and is responsible for managing Internet number resources according to the policies developed by its community.
India falls within APNIC’s service region.
However, some countries also have a National Internet Registry (NIR), which provides resource allocation and registration services at the national level while operating within the regional registry structure.
That brings us to IRINN.
India’s National Internet Registry: IRINN
In March 2012, the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) was recognized by APNIC to operate a National Internet Registry for India.
This registry became known as the Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN).
IRINN operates as a division of NIXI and provides Internet number resource allocation and registration services, including IPv4 addresses, IPv6 addresses, and Autonomous System Numbers.
The establishment of IRINN allowed eligible organizations in India to obtain these resources through a national organization, with local support and administrative processes.
One important clarification: India’s establishment of IRINN did not mean that India left APNIC or created an independent Regional Internet Registry.
IRINN operates within the APNIC framework. The global coordination of Internet number resources still depends on the established regional registry system.
This distinction matters because the Internet cannot function effectively if different organizations independently allocate overlapping globally unique address resources.
What About NIXI? Is It an Internet Exchange or a Registry?
This is where the terminology can become confusing.
The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has responsibilities involving several different aspects of the country’s Internet infrastructure.
One of its important functions is operating Internet exchange infrastructure.
An Internet Exchange Point (IXP) allows independently operated networks to exchange traffic directly, usually through BGP peering arrangements, rather than necessarily sending that traffic through an upstream transit provider.
Consider two Indian broadband providers whose customers need to exchange traffic.
Without suitable local interconnection, traffic between those providers could take an unnecessarily indirect path, potentially passing through distant transit networks.
By connecting through an Internet exchange, the two providers may be able to exchange that traffic more directly.
The potential benefits include reduced latency, lower transit costs, improved traffic localization, and greater resiliency.
However, an Internet exchange and an Internet registry perform fundamentally different functions.
An Internet registry manages Internet number resources. An Internet exchange facilitates traffic exchange between networks.
NIXI is involved in both areas, with IRINN providing its national Internet registry services. NIXI also operates services associated with India’s .IN country-code top-level domain.
Keeping those functions separate in our minds helps us better understand how Internet infrastructure is organized.
India’s Remarkable IPv6 Growth
Perhaps the most interesting development since the original 2012 announcement has been India’s adoption of IPv6.
When IRINN was established, IPv4 was still overwhelmingly dominant across the Internet. IPv6 had been standardized for years, but deployment remained relatively limited in many countries. Today, India’s IPv6 adoption is among the highest in the world.
According to APNIC’s IPv6 measurement statistics, India’s measured IPv6 capability was approximately 76% in mid-October 2026. That is a remarkable level of IPv6 deployment for a country with such a large Internet user population.
A major factor has been the expansion of mobile broadband services and large-scale IPv6 deployment by Indian network operators.
Providers such as Reliance Jio have demonstrated that IPv6 can be deployed at enormous scale, serving millions of users and supporting everyday Internet applications. This is particularly significant because India’s Internet growth occurred during a period when the global supply of available IPv4 addresses was becoming increasingly constrained.
Rather than depending entirely on additional IPv4 resources and expanding layers of address translation, operators had a strong incentive to introduce IPv6 into their access networks. That does not mean IPv4 has disappeared in India. Many networks continue to support both protocols, and mechanisms such as dual-stack operation and address translation remain important. Nevertheless, India demonstrates that IPv6 is no longer merely a future technology. It is already a fundamental part of production Internet infrastructure.
For broadband providers in other parts of the world, that is an important lesson. IPv6 deployment does not have to be restricted to laboratory experiments or isolated enterprise networks. It can be successfully implemented across very large commercial networks.
Why IPv6 Matters Beyond Address Availability
We often introduce IPv6 by discussing its enormous address space. That is certainly an important advantage. IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses compared with the 32-bit addresses used by IPv4. But the implications go beyond simply having more addresses available.
For service providers, IPv6 deployment can influence network architecture, customer provisioning, routing policy, security practices, troubleshooting procedures, and operational complexity.
IPv6 also introduces some important differences from IPv4, including:
- Neighbor Discovery rather than ARP
- Router Advertisements and IPv6 address autoconfiguration
- DHCPv6 and Prefix Delegation
- ICMPv6’s essential role in normal network operation
- Different considerations for firewall policies and network diagnostics
These differences become increasingly important as broadband providers transition from predominantly IPv4 environments toward IPv6-enabled or IPv6-first service architectures.
India’s experience provides a useful real-world example of how network operators can move beyond discussing IPv6 deployment and actually implement it at scale.
A New APNIC and NIXI Partnership in 2026
Another significant development occurred on September 8, 2026. During the APNIC 62 conference in Mumbai, APNIC and NIXI signed a Memorandum of Understanding intended to strengthen cooperation on India’s Internet infrastructure. The agreement includes continued IPv6 deployment, technical training, routing security, and the development of local technical expertise. One particularly interesting aspect involves Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI).
RPKI provides a framework that helps network operators validate whether an Autonomous System is authorized to originate particular IP address prefixes.
Using Route Origin Authorizations (ROAs), resource holders can specify which ASNs are authorized to originate their prefixes. Networks performing Route Origin Validation (ROV) can then use this information when evaluating BGP route announcements.
RPKI does not eliminate every possible BGP security problem, nor does it validate the complete AS path. However, it offers important protections against unauthorized route origin announcements, including some forms of route hijacking and misconfiguration.
The 2026 partnership includes work to encourage RPKI deployment, strengthen technical education, and evaluate a local RPKI repository mirror in India.
That is a logical next step.
As networks grow and become more dependent on Internet connectivity, address allocation alone is not enough. Routing security, operational knowledge, interconnection, and resilience become increasingly important.
What Can Other Broadband Providers Learn from India?
There are several lessons worth considering.
First, the management of Internet number resources remains important. Organizations such as APNIC and IRINN provide the administrative foundation needed for coordinated Internet operations.
Second, local Internet exchanges can improve network efficiency by allowing traffic to remain closer to its source and destination when appropriate peering arrangements exist.
Third, India’s experience demonstrates that IPv6 adoption is achievable on a very large scale.
Finally, routing security must continue to evolve alongside Internet growth. RPKI and Route Origin Validation are becoming important components of modern BGP operations.
These are not exclusively Indian networking challenges. They affect service providers across the world, including smaller regional and rural broadband operators.
Final Thoughts
When I originally wrote about IRINN in March 2012, the story was primarily about the creation of a national organization to manage Internet number resources in India.
Fourteen years later, that announcement represents just one milestone in a much larger development.
India has become one of the world’s most significant examples of large-scale IPv6 deployment, while organizations such as NIXI, IRINN, and APNIC continue working on the infrastructure, education, and routing security necessary to support the country’s Internet growth.
For those of us involved in broadband networking, the lesson is that the Internet never stands still.
Technologies such as IPv6, BGP, Internet exchanges, and RPKI are not isolated topics. They are interconnected pieces of the infrastructure that makes the global Internet work.
And India’s Internet development is a particularly interesting example of those pieces coming together.
References and Further Reading
- National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)
- Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN)
- Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)
- APNIC: NIXI and APNIC Partnership, September 2026
- APNIC IPv6 Measurement and Statistics
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