[address-policy-wg] 2013-03 New Policy Proposal (No Need - Post-Depletion Reality Adjustment and Cleanup)

* John Curran

> I am not advocating for a policy outcome one way or the other, but
> should also note that there is a significant amount of early address
> assignments in the ARIN region (e.g. those that were classsful and
> done in 80's and early 90's) which may still be underutilized and
> therefore (with some effort) could become available as parties decide
> if renumbering down to free up some of the remainder is worthwhile.
> This is independent of the space being issued from ARIN's free pool,
> and hence is relevant even after depletion of the free pool in the
> ARIN region.

Hi John,

Absolutely. Wile there's also underutilised allocations in the RIPE
region too, I have no problems accepting that there are more of them in
the ARIN region.

However, there *is* a connection to the ARIN free pool here. Its
continued existence ensures there is a (almost) gratis way of obtaining
IPv4 addresses for LIRs in the ARIN region, which in itself is going to
limit the price ARIN region buyers are willing to pay other LIRs for
their second-hand IPv4 addresses.

When the ARIN free pool depletes, however, ARIN region LIRs seeking IPv4
space will be *forced* to obtain it on the second-hand market, just as
APNIC and RIPE region LIRs are today. This might drive up the price
they're willing to pay. And if it turns out that the price the market is
willing for pay for IPv4 addresses in the ARIN region is higher than it
is in the RIPE region (or the APNIC region for that matter), it is no
certainty that the inter-region balance of trade for the RIPE region
will be that there are more addresses coming in than there are going out.

Note that I'm not saying that this *will* happen though - just that it
is very hard to predict what the future holds - as it depends on a
number of uncertain factors, including for example the level of IPv6
deployment in the various regions.

Nor do I believe that the RIPE community should only participate in
inter-region trading if we can somehow ascertain that we will be the
"market winners". I believe that free trade is inherently a good thing.

But - as with everything else in life, it boils down to comparing the
pros and cons of doing something - and IMHO the potential pros of being
able to trade IPv4 with the ARIN region are greatly outweighed by the
cons of upholding the otherwise pointless assignment need bureaucracy
and resulting operational overhead in the day to day operations of the
LIRs in our region.

Best regards,
-- 
Tore Anderson