[rpd] IPv6 as a criteria in IPv4 Soft Landing AFPUB-2026-v6-001-DRAFT01.

Sat Jun 27 18:32:48 UTC 2026

Alain,
I am with you on this. 
I was talking about this yesterday with someone. It seems we have been doing the same things with IPv6 capacity building for best part of 15 years and still it’s not really pushing (mass) adoption. Yet we keep doing the same things. …..

Most Africans connect to the phone via mobile. Manu of them through the “big 5” of African MNO groups. 

We need to focus our IPv6 efforts around 5 groups of MNOs plus 4 vendors (2 from China, 2 from Scandinavia).

These 9 companies know who they are…. Some of them are represented here….  

Then if they start deploying IPv6 then 700M Africans will be using IPv6

The rest will fall into place…. 

Cheers

Ben

Sent from my iPhone

> On 27 Jun 2026, at 20:52, ALAIN AINA via RPD <rpd at afrinic.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On 26 Jun 2026, at 07:16, Benson Muite <benson_muite at emailplus.org> wrote:
>> 
>> "jordi.palet--- via RPD" <rpd at afrinic.net> writes:
>> 
>>> Hi Seun,
>>> 
>>> I will actually say personally, the only acceptable X=1, but happy to concede with 2. Hopefully we don’t have a discussion and every participant chose a different number, as this is the typical issue when asking for a decision of “number of whatever” in trying to reach consensus.
>> 
>> The low adoption rate is worrying.  Clear criteria to justify IPv4
>> maybe helpful.  If one gets IPv4, IPv6 is free.  It is good that Afrinic
>> is doing outreach to universities. From Africa Gabon seems to have the
>> highest percentage capability:
>> https://stats.labs.apnic.net/ipv6
>> India also has good adoption and a diverse set of people in the internet
>> industry.  Understanding what has lead to adoption in these places may
>> help guide whether what new policies sohuld be adopted if any and how to
>> complement these with outreach and education activities.
> 
> 
> A few years ago, I published an analysis of IPv6 uptake in Africa, examining adoption from multiple angles, including infrastructure readiness, operator behaviour, and user‑access patterns. One of the key findings was the positive impact of new market entrants, particularly those who deployed IPv6‑capable networks from day one. That dynamic remains relevant today.
> 
> Unfortunately, the overall situation has not changed significantly. The user‑access layer continues to be the weakest point in the regional IPv6 ecosystem. Given that Africa’s Internet is overwhelmingly mobile‑centric, meaningful progress depends on Mobile Internet Service Providers taking deliberate steps to enable IPv6 at scale. Without their participation, adoption will remain slow regardless of improvements elsewhere in the ecosystem.
> 
> There are, however, some recent initiatives underway:
>   -  The ICANN grant to the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) to support IPv6 deployment in 30 African countries is a major development.
>   -  ATU has already published an interim implementation report, outlining early progress and challenges.
> 
> These efforts complement AFRINIC’s ongoing outreach, including engagement with universities and technical communities.
> -----
> 
> https://www.digitalintelligence.africa/publications/alain/AFRICA-and-IPv6-uptake.html
> https://www.icann.org/en/grant-program/first-cycle-funded-projects#deployment-ipv6-african-countries
> https://atuuat.africa/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/ATU_IPv6_First_Interim_Status_Report_Sep-Dec_2025.pdf
> https://atuuat.africa/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Africa-IPv6-Development-White-Paper_double-page-version.pdf
> 
> 
> —Alain
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>> I will also say that X is only for “single” allocations/assigments, in the sense that if you are doing something for HA (one of the policies that reached consensus yesterday), you must do it with IPv6. There is no sense that you deploy, today, an HA infrastructure without IPv6. What do you think ?
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> Jordi
>>> 
>>> @jordipalet
>>> 
>>>> El 25 jun 2026, a las 2:37, Seun Ojedeji <seun.ojedeji at gmail.com> escribió:
>>>> 
>>>> Hi Jordi,
>>>> 
>>>> ----
>>>> Sent from my mobile
>>>> kindly excuse typos
>>>> 
>>>> On Wed, 24 Jun 2026, 6:14 pm jordi.palet--- via RPD, <rpd at afrinic.net <mailto:rpd at afrinic.net>> wrote:
>>>>> .
>>>>> 
>>>>> So there is no difference in now setting a policy that clearly say, you get more IPv4, but you must also deploy IPv6.
>>>>> 
>>>>> We could also do something slightly different, I’m not sure if this is what Seun tried to say in the mic earlier this afternoon.
>>>>> 
>>>>> We don’t give any more IPv4 resources if you already got them previously. This has been done by most of the other RIRs. Will you agree with that? Only newcomers can get IPv4.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> SO: More like you don't get IPv4 resources if you already got it for X number of times in the current phase unless you meet the IPv6 deployment plan requirements. My intention is for X not !=Once
>>>> 
>>>> Regards
>>>>> 
>>>>> Now, as a 2nd part of the proposal, resources left (even recovered), can be provided to anyone who also deploy IPv6, regardless of being a newcomer or an existing member.
>>>>> 
>>>>> What do you think?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Jordi
>>>>> 
>>>>> @jordipalet
>> 
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