[rpd] [Last Call] Draft Policy Proposal- Amendment of Utilisation in Soft Landing AFPUB-2026-IPv4-002-DRAFT02

[Tshepo Masuku]

Dear Co-chairs and colleagues,

I agree with Alain and support the concerns he has raised.

The problem is not that redundancy, high availability, IPv6 transition, or expansion to new sites are illegitimate needs. The problem is that the proposal turns those broad categories into waiver grounds without defining the evidence, thresholds, or decision rules AFRINIC must apply.

That creates an evidence asymmetry: an applicant may rely on general technical claims, while Hostmasters must approve or reject the request without an objective standard. The likely result is inconsistent treatment, avoidable appeals, and growing dependence on staff discretion.

The provision treating an additional request as a “first allocation” is particularly concerning. It appears capable of resetting the utilisation calculation whenever a new site or redundancy requirement is claimed. Without strict per-site rules, an organisation could accumulate additional space while repeatedly avoiding the utilisation threshold that the policy is supposed to preserve.

Alain’s MDN approach offers a clearer alternative because it connects allocation to the actual network site, topology, utilisation level, and technical evidence. Per-site measurement is more difficult to manipulate than a broad organisation-wide waiver supported by undefined documentation.

The promised definition of “utilisation” is also fundamental. Rough consensus should not be declared while a key term governing eligibility remains unpublished or unclear. Policy must provide deterministic and auditable conditions, not create a general permission layer for later interpretation by the registry.

For these reasons, I agree with Alain that the proposal should not advance in its current form. The waiver language should be replaced with a structured MDN framework, the “first allocation” reset removed, and the required evidence and utilisation calculations expressly defined.

Regards,
Tshepo




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