[AFRINIC-rpd] End-User vs. LIR for HEIs

[Adiel Akplogan]

Hello all,

The matter of End-User vs. LIR status for HEIs has been 
discussed during the last Board face to face meeting in 
Khartoum as followup to the discussion that happened on 
this list some time back. 

Should we discuss if IP addresses should be Assigned OR 
Allocated to an HEI Network (i.e End-User or LIR)? Should 
HEI Networks be pre-categorised as EU or LIR by default 
no matter what their infrastructure and services are?

The board come to the conclusion that it may not be wise 
to by default tag a specific type of organisation to the 
way they will use IP resources. The definition of End-User 
and LIR should be the same and generic across the border 
and should define based on how the Network Infrastructure 
is designed and how the IP address assigned/allocated will 
be further used/managed down. 

Now as the issue the HEIs seem to want to avoid is the fees 
they will have to pay as LIR, it was suggested and agreed 
that the Board adopts a special membership fees discount for 
HEIs who operate as LIRs (a discount a bit higher than the 
currently applied to EU which is 50%). At the same time a 
review of EU membership fees in general is being looked at. 

Discussion on the new fees structure for End-Users will be 
launch soon on services at afrinic.net and 
members-discuss at afrinic.net mailing lists (Get on them if 
you are not yet).

Now on a personal note, is it fair to assume that in some 
cases (big and widely spread campus) HEIs will have more 
flexibility and advantage to be an LIR because they can then
more easily managed their allocations? [They can assign, and 
sub-allocate to other affiliated schools and institutes (on 
or out campus), store these assignments in the public WHOIS 
database. In a way decentralising the management of their 
IP addresses pool. While as EU they only get an assignment 
and they can not assigned or sub-allocated from AFRINIC policy 
and public DB view point]

- a.