The European Commission yesterday announced ambitious targets for its 27 member states to provide better internet services in two years' time.

The increasing demand for internet services means there would not be enough addresses to support the expected growth if no action is taken, the Commission said.

Internet users and providers around Europe should start adopting the latest Internet Protocol (IP version 6 or IPv6) which will provide a massive increase in address space, much in the same way as telephone numbers were lengthened in the 20th century.

The Commission has set member states a target of getting 25 per cent of EU industry, public authorities and households to use IPv6 by 2010. It called for concerted action to get all actors prepared for a timely, efficient change to avoid extra costs for consumers and give innovative European companies a competitive advantage.

Currently, internet services are provided through the so-called IPv4 system, used since 1984, and which provides 4.3 billion addresses, of which only about 700 million or 16 per cent remain free and available for new connections.

The new internet protocol service, known as IPv6, will make an almost unlimited amount of IP-addresses available and so support new applications using devices that are too numerous or costly for IPv4.

Most new computers and servers are already IPv6 compatible, but are only reachable through their old IPv4 addresses.

The Commission called on member states to put the European public sector at the forefront of deployment by migrating their own internet networks, public sector websites and eGovernment services to IPv6.

The Commission also wants the most important websites of Europe to take the lead and aims to receive commitments from at least 100 top European website operators, such as broadcasters or online news services, before the end of 2008.

The EU's own website europa.eu, managed by the Commission, will be IPv6 accessible by 2010.