Hello
I want to share below the reasons I do NOT support this proposal.
- First I want to say that I find it very positive and correct the care
the author took to exclude from from this account holders who have
transferred out any IPv4 as also the 5 years for not being able to
transfer out resources received by APNIC. This make proposal more
coherent and reduces speculation around resources numbers.
- I don't think the proposal for a /16 for facilitating IPv6 deployment
should be treated under this same proposal. It is a different topic and
should be treated and discussed separately.
- For the main point about the proposal a /23, as it is now, is enough
for new entrants to begin with and exist in the internet.
- No more space should be given from these pools to account holders who
already have some space. Any space left from APNIC's pool should be
given to new entrants so they privilege more organizations to exist on
the internet rather than concentrate on the existing ones.
- Existing ones, with little IP space such as a /23 have already some
means and revenue to transfer in more IP space and continue growing.
They should not depend on APNIC for that. Allowing that only serves for
the propose of exhaust the little left for these new entrants. I
normally tend to think that for a new organization to exist on the
internet a /23 or /22 is little but Ok. It allows it to establish itself
in business and go from there with its own legs. As the status quo for
APNIC is /23 it doesn't sound good move to change it.
On discussions about such possible changes on RIRs I tend to think that
it seems that people still didn't understand we are under a heavy IPv4
exhaustion and simply there aren't IPv4 available for the pace Internet
demand grows. Maybe some think that by adjusting the policy to exhaust
the pool much faster will resolve the issue for some and all it may do
is save some money for those who are able to get this extra tiny chunk
of IP space avoiding them to pay to transfer from the market. This at
the cost of new entrants which makes it unfair in unbalanced in my view
given the current scenario.
People need to learn how to work with less IPv4 on deployments, make
better usage of what they already have instead of keep hoping to receive
some extra space from their RIRs.
Best regards
Fernando
On 8/4/2026 9:01 PM, David Mitchell via SIG-policy wrote:
Hi All,
I support this proposal and believe it is clear.
Regards
David Mitchell
*From:*Bikram Shrestha <[email protected]>
*Sent:* Saturday, 1 August 2026 4:21 am
*To:* [email protected]
*Cc:* [email protected]
*Subject:* [sig-policy] Updated: prop-168-v003: Increase to maximum
IPv4 delegations
You don't often get email from [email protected]. Learn why this is
important <https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification>
Dear SIG members,
A new version of the proposal "prop-168: Increase to maximum IPv4
delegations” has been sent to the Policy SIG for review.
Information about earlier versions is available from:
https://www.apnic.net/community/policy/proposals/prop-168/
<https://www.apnic.net/community/policy/proposals/prop-168/>
You are encouraged to express your views on the proposal:
* Do you support or oppose the proposal?
* Is there anything in the proposal that is not clear?
* What changes could be made to this proposal to make it more effective?
Please find the text of the proposal below.
prop-168-v003: Increase to maximum IPv4 delegations
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposers:
Christopher Hawker ([email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>)
1. Problem statement
-------------------------
As of 29 July 2026, there were 3,013,120 IPv4 addresses (11,770 x /24)
in the available pool [1]. Since prop-127 was implemented back on 04
April 2019
there were 549 new account holders in 2025 (as of 03/12/2025), 667 new
account holders in 2024 [2], 904 in 2023 [3], 824 in 2022 [4], 783 in
2021 [5],
827 in 2020 [6] and 841 in 2019 [7] (noting that this also includes Q1
2024 which was prior to implementation of prop-127). At the current
average of
727 new accounts per year, and if each account holder was to apply for
the maximum delegation of /23, the delegation rate would be
approximately 1454
x /24 per year, meaning the pool will be exhausted in 2035. This means
that resources will sit idle in the available pool for an extended
period (up
to 9 years), while current account holders are required to acquire
additional space through market transfers or lease address space to
meet operational
requirements.
[Note: Full-year new account holder statistics for 2025 were not
published in the APNIC 2025 Annual Report.]
2. Objective of policy change
----------------------------------
Current address policy only allows for the maximum delegation of up to
and including a /23 to new and existing account holders. This policy
change will
allow a sub-set of account holders with less than an aggregated /22 to
receive an additional delegation of up to a maximum of a /22 IPv4
delegation.
3. Situation in other regions
--------------------------------
- The maximum size aggregate a member in the ARIN region may qualify
for at any one time a maximum is a /22 [8].
- "The sum of all allocations made to a single LIR by the RIPE NCC is
limited to a maximum of 256 IPv4 addresses (a single /24)." [9]
- Exhaustion Phase 2 (section 5.4.3.2) in AFRINIC's Consolidated
Policy Manual states that the "maximum will be /22 per
allocation/assignment" [10].
- LACNIC's Policy Manual lists under section 11.1.4 "Policies Relating
to the Exhaustion of IPv4 Address Space" that the maximum size a new
member may
receive is a /22, while under 11.1.2 it states that existing members
are ineligible for additional space under this policy [11].
4. Proposed policy solution
--------------------------------
Update "APNIC-127 APNIC Internet Number Resource Policies" with the below:
- Delete paragraphs 2 and 3 from section 6.1 "Minimum and maximum IPv4
delegations", and replace with the following:
Account holders who hold less than a /22 may apply for additional
space, to bring their combined holdings up to and including a /22.
Account holders who have transferred any IPv4 address space of any
size out of their account are ineligible for further delegations from
APNIC.
- Delete paragraph 4 from section 11.0 "IPv4 Transfers", and replace
with the following:
Addresses delegated from the available pool cannot be transferred for
a minimum of five years from the date of delegation. If an account
holder received
an initial delegation and applies for a subsequent delegation, all
delegations to the account holder cannot be transferred for a minimum
of 5 years from
the date of the most recent delegation.
- Update point 4 from paragraph 1 under section 11.1.1 "Conditions on
the space to be transferred" as below:
Addresses delegated from the available pool cannot be transferred for
a minimum of five years from the date the original delegation was
made. If the
source entity received a delegation from APNIC within the last 5
years, any resources delegated from the available pool (including
those delegated over
5 years ago) cannot be transferred for a minimum of 5 years from the
date the most recent delegation was made.
- Delete paragraph 3 from section 11.2.1 "Conditions on the space to
be transferred" and replace with the following:
Some RIRs, including APNIC, have restrictions against the transfer of
certain address blocks. APNIC policy does not allow the transfer of
address space
delegated from the available pool to be transferred for a minimum of
five years from the date of the most recent delegation to the account
holder.
- Delete paragraph 2 from section 14.0 "Mergers & Acquisitions" and
replace with the following:
Addresses delegated from the available pool cannot be transferred for
a minimum of five years from the date of the most recent delegation
from the
available pool.
- Add new section 5.1.5 "Reservation for IPv4 to IPv6 Transitioning":
APNIC will reserve a /12 IPv4 subnet from the available pool, for the
purpose of delegating a maximum /24 address block to each new account
holder, in
order to assist with IPv4 to IPv6 transitioning once the available
pool for delegation has been exhausted. IPv4 addresses delegated from
this pool are
ineligible for transfers, and must be returned to APNIC when no longer
required. Account holders who currently hold or have ever held IPv4
address
space are ineligible for address space under this policy, except where
that space was returned to APNIC. Delegations from this pool will be
made once
all other address space available or reserved for general delegation
have been exhausted.
If an account holder receives an IPv4 delegation under this policy and
is found to not be using the address space for IPv4-to-IPv6
transitioning, APNIC
may recover the IPv4 resources from the account holder.
- Delete sentence 2, paragraph 2, section 5.7.2 "Allocations for
experimental purposes" which currently reads:
This address space will be unreserved and put back in the general pool
after five years for delegation to account holders as per IPv4 policy
in Section
6.0 below.
5. Advantages / Disadvantages
------------------------------------
Advantages:
- This will help to make additional resources available to
organisations who need it, that would otherwise need to acquire space
through market
transfers or lease address space.
Disadvantages:
- This policy will accelerate the exhaustion of IPv4 address space,
however, given the slow rate of new accounts
the benefits of additional space becoming available to account
holders outweigh the disadvantages of accelerated exhaustion.
- This may create a sudden rush of new applications for additional
resources, leading to extended waiting times for the assessment of
applications.
6. Impact on resource holders
-----------------------------------
No known impacts to resource holders.
7. References
----------------
[1] APNIC Delegation Statistics as of 29 July 2026:
https://ftp.apnic.net/stats/apnic/2026/delegated-apnic-extended-20260729.gz
<https://ftp.apnic.net/stats/apnic/2026/delegated-apnic-extended-20260729.gz>
[2] Page 22, APNIC 2024 Activity Report:
https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/APNIC-AR-2024.pdf
<https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/APNIC-AR-2024.pdf>
[3] Page 19, APNIC 2023 Activity Report:
https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/APNIC_AR_2023.pdf
<https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/APNIC_AR_2023.pdf>
[4] Page 17, APNIC 2022 Activity Report:
https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/APNIC_AR_2022_FINAL.pdf
<https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/APNIC_AR_2022_FINAL.pdf>
[5] Page 17, APNIC 2021 Activity Report:
https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/APNIC_AR_2021.pdf
<https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/APNIC_AR_2021.pdf>
[6] Page 18, APNIC 2020 Activity Report:
https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/APNIC-2020-Annual-Report.pdf
<https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/APNIC-2020-Annual-Report.pdf>
[7] Page 30, APNIC 2019 Activity Report:
https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/APNIC-AR-2019-FINAL.pdf
<https://www.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/APNIC-AR-2019-FINAL.pdf>
[8] ARIN Waitlist, Number Resource Policy Manual, ARIN:
https://www.arin.net/participate/policy/nrpm/#4-1-8-arin-waitlist
<https://www.arin.net/participate/policy/nrpm/#4-1-8-arin-waitlist>
[9] Allocations made by the RIPE NCC to LIRs, IPv4 Address Allocation
and Assignment Policies for the RIPE NCC Service Region, RIPE NCC:
https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-826/#51-allocations-made-by-the-ripe-ncc-to-lirs
<https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-826/#51-allocations-made-by-the-ripe-ncc-to-lirs>
[10] Soft Landing, Consolidated Policy Manual, AFRINIC:
https://afrinic.net/policy/manual#Soft-Landing
<https://afrinic.net/policy/manual#Soft-Landing>
[11] Policies relating to the Exhaustion of IPv4 Address Space, LACNIC
Policy Manual:
https://www.lacnic.net/innovaportal/file/680/1/manual-politicas-en-2-21.pdf
<https://www.lacnic.net/innovaportal/file/680/1/manual-politicas-en-2-21.pdf>
Regards,
Bikram, Shaila, and Ching-Heng
APNIC Policy SIG Chairs
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