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

[Nonjabulo Sphilile]

Dear Jordi,

I do not disagree that operators may have legitimate reasons to deploy
multiple data centres, additional BGP PoPs, or more extensive IPv6
transition infrastructure. Those are operational decisions that should
remain with network operators.

My concern is different.

The proposal uses those legitimate operational requirements as grounds for
expanding registry discretion. Once terms such as "IPv6 transition," "high
availability," or "expansion to new sites" become policy exceptions without
objective boundaries, the registry inevitably moves beyond coordinating
uniqueness and begins assessing network architecture, deployment strategy,
and business decisions. That is a significant expansion of the registry's
role.

Similarly, I am not convinced that future expectations of IPv6 deployment
should justify broader discretion today. Whether IPv6 adoption accelerates
or not is ultimately an operational and commercial decision for network
operators. Registry policy should remain technology-neutral and avoid
creating incentives or exceptions that indirectly influence architectural
choices. A coordination policy should accommodate operational reality
rather than shape it.

In my view, the registry's mandate should remain deliberately narrow. Its
role is to maintain accurate records, preserve uniqueness, and apply
objective allocation criteria consistently. Once policy begins evaluating
whether an operator's IPv6 deployment, redundancy model, or network
topology is sufficiently compelling to justify exceptions, the registry is
no longer simply coordinating Internet number resources. It is exercising
judgement over operational design.

That is why several participants have argued that the solution should be to
improve the policy itself by defining objective, verifiable criteria or by
considering technically grounded alternatives such as Alain's proposal,
rather than relying on expanding administrative discretion.

Kind regards,

Nonjabulo
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/attachments/20260803/b39ae10a/attachment.html>