China's IP address will be used up in two or three years as the number of internet users keeps soaring, People's Daily reported on Monday, citing a Chinese expert.

China now has 380 million internet users and every two of them use one IP address. People seldom feel inconvenienced right now as not everyone surfs the net at the same time.

However, China's IP resources can only sustain two or three years at current distribution rate, and new internet users could have difficulty visiting the internet.

According to Wu Hequan, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, IPv6 network address, which was developed by the United States, may solve the problem. IPv6 features unlimited resources so that even a rock can get an IP address from it.

Using IPv6 means internet operators have to invest large amount of money to buy new equipment and discard the old ones. Currently, only edu.cn in China use this kind of IP.

China