Will the global share of web traffic served over IPv6 networks exceed 60% before the end of 2027?

IPv6 Crossover: Over 60% of Global Web Traffic by 2027

The transition from the old IPv4 internet addressing system to the vast address space of IPv6 has been a decades-long effort. This prediction is that the global share of web traffic served over IPv6 networks will exceed 60% before the end of 2027. This milestone indicates that IPv6 is no longer a niche feature but the dominant protocol for general internet usage.

The Drivers of IPv6 Adoption

While IPv6 adoption was initially slow, it has accelerated rapidly due to:

• **Mobile Networks:** Major mobile carriers globally (especially in Asia and North America) have switched to IPv6 to deal with the vast number of smartphone and IoT devices, as they have exhausted their IPv4 address pools.
• **Content Delivery Networks (CDNs):** Major CDNs (like Akamai, Cloudflare) and content providers (Google, Meta) have aggressively enabled IPv6 to ensure content is reachable by the growing mobile user base.
• **IPv4 Exhaustion:** The functional exhaustion of available IPv4 addresses has made the acquisition of new addresses prohibitively expensive for new networks and companies, forcing a shift to IPv6.

As the networks that carry the most traffic—mobile networks and major content providers—continue to increase their IPv6 deployments, the overall share of traffic will continue its upward trend. Hitting 60% by 2027 is a technical inevitability given the current trajectory and the underlying economics of address scarcity.