[AfriNIC-rpd] Updated Version of the "IPv4 Soft Landing Policy"now Available Online

[Owen DeLong]

On Feb 24, 2011, at 2:20 AM, Andrew Alston wrote:

> 
> 
> <SNIP>
> 
>>> 
>> As has been pointed out by others, the probability of African ISPs
>> making significant off-shore expansions in IPv4 is somewhere between
>> slim and none, so I tend to doubt that this is anything more than a
>> straw man argument.
> 
> Errrr the possibility is slim to none?  Ok, so hold on, lets look at a few
> things for a second.  MTN is currently in the top 10 largest cellular
> networks in the world, and one of the largest by market cap, they didn't do
> this by not expanding, they are an ISP.
> 
The probability that they will make significant expansions in world
markets _WITH IPv4_ is slim to none. IPv4s expansion days are limited.

MTN claims they serve only African countries. I could find no sign that
they have any off-continent expansion or plans to do so.

> Vodacom is a large company, with the potential for market expansion.
> 
Vodacom's Investor Relations information contains no claims whatsoever
that they have any intention of providing services outside of Africa.

> Anglo Gold and Debeers Mining both are African companies with HUGE
> international holdings, what happens when they need more space?  They aren't
> an ISP so they don't count or something?  So P.I space can then be
> specifically excluded from this clause?  Or not?
> 
As near as I can tell, De Beers is a UK company with subsidiaries in Africa.
http://www.debeersgroup.com/ImageVault/Images/id_2110/ImageVaultHandler.aspx

inetnum:        78.136.23.208 - 78.136.23.215
netname:        RSPC-UK-De-Beers-Group-Services-Ltd
descr:          De Beers Group Services (UK) Ltd-IP Space
country:        GB
admin-c:        IA247-RIPE
tech-c:         IA247-RIPE
remarks:        rev-srv:        ns.rackspace.com
status:         ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by:         RSPC-MNT
source:         RIPE # Filtered
remarks:        rev-srv attribute deprecated by RIPE NCC on 02/09/2009

You appear to be correct about Anglo Gold.

> The list goes on and on and on, and quite frankly, I find your assumption
> that African companies will not go global or expand significantly in the
> international market to be short sited and pretty insulting to every African
> company present on this list, as it implies that they some how don't have
> what it takes to join the global market.
> 
That's because you mis-stated my assertion and further expanded upon
that theory. I absolutely think that African companies will go global.
I just don't think that very many of the are likely to do so with IPv4 at
this point.

With this clause, AfriNIC resources may be able to be preserved for
development in the AfriNIC region. Without it, I expect these resources
would be used by non-African companies outside of the region much
faster and to a much larger extent than they would be used for global
expansion by African companies.

The fact that you and I can't even agree on whether or not De Beers
is an African company seems to indicate that developing a definition of
an African company vs. an international conglomerate with an
African shell for address acquisition would seem to support my
theory that any such definition for policy would be difficult to achieve
at best.

Owen