PA311-2011

Today, the Internet that Mr. Cerf helped create more than 30 years ago is about to max out. Within the next 12 to 18 months, or perhaps sooner, every single 4.3 billion Internet Protocol addresses will be allocated, and the Internet, at least as it exists today, will have reached full capacity. “There are 4.3 billion addresses, and a lot of people have more than one,” said Leo Vegoda, manager of number resources at Icann. “And there are seven billion people on the planet. That’s a big mismatch.”

BARCELONA — Neelie Kroes, the European telecommunications commissioner, said Monday that she was likely to seek new regulations to put an end to the “rip-offs” that Europeans face when using data services on smartphones outside their home countries. Speaking at the opening day of the Mobile World Congress, the industry’s largest convention, Ms. Kroes said limits placed on the charges operators charge each other for mobile data roaming, which were enacted in 2007, had failed to significantly lower the charges consumers paid.