[AfriNIC-rpd] The "Out of Region Sales for IPv4 Space" Policy Proposal is now Online

[Andrew Alston]

Hi All,

There is a second version of this policy proposal which I have emailed to
policy-submission and will hopefully be posted soon, but some comments:


> For now, I am neutral with regard to this proposal.
> 
> I do have some questions I think are worth considering...
> 
> 1. By runout in one of the other RIRs, it is possible AfriNIC's inventory
> could be less than
> a /8. In such an event, this policy would allow AfriNIC to sell its entire
> remaining inventory.
> Is that the intent?

Negative, the soft landing policy as it currently stands would prevent this
policy from taking effect if this is the case.  I however do not believe
that is even vaguely likely.

> 
> 2. The premium price of 2x current rate will be well below likely market
> prices in the
> address trading markets established by ARIN, RIPE, and APNIC policies. (not
> sure
> if LACNIC has a trading policy), virtually guaranteeing that AfriNIC will be a
> preferred
> source unti the inventory is exhausted. Likely you could significantly
> increase the
> pricing if you tied this policy to market values in some way. If the intent is
> to maximize
> revenues for AfriNIC, then, perhaps that would be worth considering.

The LIR * 2 membership fee is a "foreign penalty", it is not meant to
MAXIMIZE revenues, it is simply meant to make it slightly more fair.  People
aren't BUYING ip space under this proposal, they are taking membership of
AfriNIC from an external source.  Therefore the LIR Rate * 2 is a membership
rate + external penalty almost, and is recurring revenue.

> 
> 3. I believe the claims that AfriNIC space will be used by foreign entities
> whether AfriNIC
> makes it available or not are essentially specious and mostly FUD[1]. However,
> the
> passage of policies like this could turn such statements into self-fulfilling
> prophecies.
> Is that the intent?

No, since I do not agree with you whatsoever that this is "fud."  I've seen
enough talk in the general industry about how this can be achieved through
shelf companies and other such means to indicate that people are already
thinking along these lines.  This policy is meant to discourage it being
done via subterfuge and legitimize it.

> 
> Owen
> 
> [1] FUD -- Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt: An attempt to bolster one's argument
> by presenting
> the specter of some future event, no matter how unlikely, as a serious threat.
> 
> On Feb 15, 2011, at 6:46 AM, Mukom Akong T wrote:
> 
>> Dear Colleagues,
>> 
>> You can find it at
>> http://www.afrinic.net/docs/policies/AFPUB-2011-v4-003-draft-01.htm.  See a
>> text version below:
>> 
>> Regards
>> ________
>> 
>> 
>> Unique identifier: AFPUB-2011-v4-003-draft-01
>> Draft Policy Name: Out of Region Sales for IPv4 Space
>> Author: Andrew Alson | aa at tenet.ac.za | TENET South Africa
>> Draft Policy Version: 01
>> Submission Date: February 10th 2011
>> Related Policies:
>> 
>> 
>> 1.0 Summary of the Problem Being Addressed by this Policy Proposal
>> 
>> With IANA already developing policies for the transfer of space between RIR¹s
>> and with the depletion of IPv4 space in other regions approaching faster and
>> faster every day, there is a high likelihood that the rest of the world will
>> turn to the unused African allocations for more IPv4 space.  With AfriNIC
>> having enough space to last what amounts to a couple of years, there is
>> sufficient space to allow for sale of a portion of this space outside of the
>> African region.
>> 
>> 2.0. Summary of How this Proposal Addresses the Problem Above
>> 
>> This proposal prevents the situation where foreign entities are trying to
>> grab the space through illicit means, and regulate the distribution of the
>> space while providing some benefit back to the African community.  This
>> policy will also allow for further revenue streams into AfriNIC, which can be
>> used for the active promotion and development of IPv6.  Further more, the
>> policy will prevent a situation where we are sitting with large blocks of
>> unused IPv4 space long after such space becomes useable, due to the rest of
>> the world having migrated to IPv6.
>> 
>> 3.0 The proposal:
>> 
>> On the date of depletion of IPv4 resources within either the
>> RIPE/APNIC/LACNIC/ARIN regions, AfriNIC will make available space out of a
>> single unallocated /8 for sale to foreign entities.
>> 
>> 3.1  Such space will be sold at a premium price, currently for the purposes
>> of this proposal at LIR rate + 100% in order to allow for growth in AfriNIC
>> revenue streams .
>> 
>> 3.2 The foreign entities applying for this space will have to meet all
>> standard AfriNIC space allocation requirements.
>> 
>> 3.3 No more than one /8 out of the available AfriNIC space will be made
>> available for this purpose.
>> 
>> 4.0 Summary
>> 
>> While this policy may seem like a potential way to allow the rest of the
>> world to pillage the African resources, it can be argued that the space will
>> be used by foreign entities irrespective of the will of the African
>> community.  This policy merely allows the African community to, in some small
>> way, benefit from the resources we have available.
>> 
>> _______
>> <tamon.vcf>_______________________________________________
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>> rpd at afrinic.net
>> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/rpd
> 
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