[AFRINIC-Announce] AFRINIC Enters IPv4 Exhaustion Phase 1

[AFRINIC Communication]

[French version will follow shortly]

Dear Colleagues,

On 31st March 2017, AFRINIC has approved a request for IPv4 resources that could not be fulfilled from the IPv4 address space available in the AFRINIC pool (with the exception of the final /8), triggering Phase 1 of IPv4 Exhaustion. 

GUIDANCE FOR MEMBERS

AFRINIC Resource Members are kindly requested to familiarise themselves with the IPv4 Soft Landing policy as described in Section 5.4 of the Consolidated Policy Manual, which can be found here: 

www.afrinic.net/library/policies/1829-afrinic-consolidated-policy-manual. 

In addition to the policy itself, please refer to the following previous communiques:

	• 16 January 2017, available at http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/news/1973-afrinic-is-approaching-ipv4-exhaustion-phase-1;
	• 30 March 2017, available at http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/news/2049-ipv4-exhaustion-phase-1-imminent

To ensure timely evaluation of all Internet number resource requests, Members are requested to ensure that: 

	• They are in good standing (all fees are paid up, and RSA duly signed)
	• Submit complete IPv4 resource requests, including all information needed to verify policy compliance.
	• Make arrangements for AFRINIC staff to check online statistics via screen sharing or similar methods, at a time between 06:00UTC and 11:30am UTC, Monday to Friday (between 10:00 and 15:30 Mauritius time (UTC+4)).
 
CHANGES TO POLICIES IN EXHAUSTION PHASE 1

Now that Exhaustion Phase 1 has begun, the current IPv4 policies continue to apply, but certain changes take effect:
	 
	
		• The minimum IPv4 allocation for LIRs will be /22, and the minimum IPv4 assignment for End User Members will be /24. (section 5.4.3.1).
		• The maximum IPv4 allocation/assignment shall be /13 (section 5.4.3.1).
		• No explicit limit on the number of times an organisation may request additional IPv4 space (section 5.4.4).
		• Allocation/assignment period (planning window) changes from 12 months to 8 months (section 5.4.5).
		• Existing Resource Members are eligible to get additional blocks of IPv4 address space if 90% efficient usage of all resources has been demonstrated (section 5.4.6.1).
		• Use of AFRINIC IPv4 resources outside the AFRINIC service region should be solely in support of connectivity back to the AFRINIC region (section 5.4.6.2).
		• A /12 IPv4 address block will be reserved from the final /8. This /12 IPv4 address block shall be preserved by AFRINIC for future uses, as yet unforeseen (section 5.4.7).

Please see the relevant sections in the Consolidated Policy Manual for more information: www.afrinic.net/library/policies/1829-afrinic-consolidated-policy-manual 

FUTURE COMMUNIQUES

AFRINIC will issue future communiques as necessary in order to keep the membership informed. Further, if you have any questions about IPv4 Exhaustion, please contact AFRINIC hostmasters on hostmaster at afrinic.net.

More information:

	• AFRINIC's available inventory of IPv4 space is updated daily at: www.afrinic.net/en/services/statistics/ipv4-exhaustion
	• IPv4 exhaustion: www.afrinic.net/en/community/ipv4-exhaustion
	• IPv6 deployment: www.afrinic.net/en/services/ipv6-programme
	• AFRINIC's Policy Development Process (PDP): www.afrinic.net/en/community/policy-development
	• Global Policy: Global Policy for the Allocation of the Remaining IPv4 Address Space: www.icann.org/resources/pages/remaining-ipv4-2012-02-25-en