Soft Landing Recovered Space and Priority

Details

Name of Proposal	Soft Landing, Recovered Space and Priority
ID:	AFPUB-2026-IPv4-001-DRAFT01	Date Submitted:	06/05/2026
Author(s):	Jordi Palet Martinez jordi.palet[at]theipv6company.com	Version:	1.0
Obsoletes:		Amends:	Certain sections in the CPM

1. Summary of the problem being addressed by this proposal

AFRINIC entered Soft Landing Phase 2 in 2020 when it had no more than one /11 of non‑reserved IPv4 space remaining in the final /8. Subsequently, AFRINIC also recovered more than 3 million IPv4 addresses.

According to AFRINIC staff, at the current delegation rate:

Approximately 2 years are estimated to deplete the 783,872 IPv4 addresses currently available
An additional ~3 years are estimated to deplete the /12 block (around 1 million addresses) reserved by policy for future use
Several Resource Members have received more than 8 × /22 within a calendar year by submitting multiple requests up to the maximum /22 prefix size.

The staff asked to the community: Should the recovered 3+ million IPv4 addresses:

Automatically fall under the existing Soft-Landing Phase 2 conditions? OR
Be subject to a new policy governing how recovered IPv4 space is handled?

Further to that, this policy also resolves possible discrepancies among the Soft-Landing policy and other sections of the CPM.

2. Summary of how this proposal addresses the problem

This proposal suggests that the Soft-Landing policy shall be irreversible and consequently the recovered addresses fall under the existing Soft-Landing Phase 2 existing conditions.

The reasons for this consideration are:

The Internet in Africa can still increase the delegation rate, as the different economies keep growing, so probably the burn rate will be faster than forecasted.
IPv6 deployment will still need, even when using IPv6-only/IPv6-Mostly scenarios, which are the recommended ones, small IPv4 pools (/22-/24) for every site.
An alternative policy to amend the Soft-Landing can take a longer discussion time in the community, so meanwhile, this proposal fills the gap and doesn’t prevent a better choice over the time.

Regarding the discrepancies with other sections of the CPM, the proposal suggests that Soft-Landing is prioritised over the other CPM sections in case of conflict or discrepancies.

Proposal

Amend article 5.4 of the CPM, as follows:

Current	Proposed
5.4 Soft Landing This section describes how AFRINIC shall assign, allocate, and manage IPv4 resources during the "Exhaustion Phase" which begins when AFRINIC first needs to assign or allocate IP addresses from the final /8 block of IPv4 address space.	5.4 Soft Landing This section describes how AFRINIC shall assign, allocate, and manage IPv4 resources during the "Exhaustion Phase" which begins when AFRINIC first needs to assign or allocate IP addresses from the final /8 block of IPv4 address space. Once each Soft-Landing exhaustion phase is started, it is irreversible, and recovered resources, regardless of their size, will refill the existing pool after a 6 months quarantine period. In case of conflict with other parts of the CPM in terms of Allocation Criteria, Soft-Landing articles will have the higher priority.
5.5.1.2.1 AFRINIC's minimum allocation is /22 or 1024 IPv4 addresses.	Removed (5.4.3.2 supersedes it)
5.5.1.4.1 An LIR may receive an additional allocation when about 80% of all the address space currently allocated to it has been used in valid assignments and/or sub-allocations.	Removed (5.4.6.1 supersedes it)
5.5.1.9 Utilisation Immediate utilisation of assignments should be at least 25% of the assigned space. After one year, unless special circumstances are defined, it should be at least 50%	5.5.1.9 Utilisation Immediate utilisation of assignments should be at least 25% of the assigned space. After 8 months, unless special circumstances are defined, it should be at least 50%
5.5.1.13.3.2. The LIR cannot make any sub‑allocation to the End‑User above their SAW in a 12‑month period (1 year). At the end of a calendar year from the approval of a SAW, the SAW is refreshed for one more year. In case the LIR's SAW is exhausted for a particular End‑User, approval must be sought from AFRINIC for any other sub‑allocation to the same End‑User.	5.5.1.13.3.2. The LIR cannot make any sub‑allocation to the End‑User above their SAW in a 8‑month period. At the end of an 8-month period from the approval of a SAW, the SAW is refreshed for additional 8-months. In case the LIR's SAW is exhausted for a particular End‑User, approval must be sought from AFRINIC for any other sub‑allocation to the same End‑User.
5.6.3 Additional PI Assignment	Removed (5.4.6.1 supersedes it)

4. References

In other regions, it has not been contemplated a reversion of the policies for exhaustion. When needed the exhaustion policies have been modified to match the updated community view.

Policy Proposal

Last Modified on - 14 May 2026