Amendment of Utilisation in Soft Landing

Details

Name of Proposal	Amendment of Utilisation in Soft Landing		Status: Under Discussion
ID:	AFPUB-2026-IPv4-002-DRAFT02	Date Submitted:	06/05/2026
Author(s):	Jordi Palet Martinez jordi.palet[at]theipv6company.com The IPv6 Company	Version:	2.0
Obsoletes:	AFPUB-2026-IPv4-002-DRAFT01	Amends:	Amend article 5.4.6.1 of the CPM

1. Summary of the problem being addressed by this proposal

The Soft-Landing utilisation criteria is preventing organisations that may have multiple sites, redundancy or high-availability needs to achieve that, because section 5.4.6.1 states that 90% of the previous allocations or assignments must have been used.

For example, an end-user member may have received a /24 for a Data Centre and now is setting up new Data Centres. Current policy will not allow that until 90% of the first Data Centre prefix is utilised.

Another example may be an ISP, with multiple BGP PoPs, setting up 464XLAT in the network, with NAT64 devices in each PoP for high-availability purposes. Normally it will announce a /22-/24 in each PoP, even if all the addresses are not being used simultaneously all the time, so 90% utilisation is not allowing that deployment offering high-availability to the subscribers.

2. Summary of how this proposal addresses the problem

This proposal suggests that the utilisation criteria should allow cases such as those in the previous examples and similar ones.

Because the 3 million IPv4 recovered addresses, this change will not create an immediate drain of the AFRINIC pool, and instead, can help to increase the number of DCs and high-availability, IPv6 deployment and better connectivity for the region.

The proposal also rewords the existing 2 paragraphs, without changing their meaning, in order to improve clarity.

Proposal

Amend article 5.4.6.1 of the CPM, as follows:

Current	Proposed
5.4.6.1 In order to receive IPv4 allocations or assignments during the Exhaustion Phase, the LIR or End User must have used at least 90% of all previous allocations or assignments (including those made during both the Current Phase and the Exhaustion Phase) In the case of new LIRs or End Users with no previous allocations or assignments, this requirement does not apply to their first allocation or assignment request.	5.4.6.1 As a condition precedent to the receipt of any IPv4 allocation or assignment during the Exhaustion Phase, a Local Internet Registry (“LIR”) or End User shall demonstrate utilisation of not less than ninety per cent (90%) of all prior IPv4 allocations or assignments received, including those made during both the Current Phase and the Exhaustion Phase. The foregoing requirement shall not apply to the first allocation or assignment request submitted by a new LIR or End User having no previous IPv4 allocations or assignments. Notwithstanding the above, the utilisation requirement may be waived in respect of network operators seeking additional IPv4 resources for demonstrated key technical purposes, which can be illustrated to not be practically serviceable or giving rise to technical constraints affecting the operator’s existing resource pool. Non-limiting examples are redundancy and high-availability deployments, IPv6 transition mechanisms, or expansion to new sites. In such circumstances, the relevant request shall be treated as a first allocation or assignment request for the purposes of this provision. The request justification must be sufficiently documented, in such way that AFRINIC can verify the compliance with the provided justification.

Current

Proposed

5.4.6.1 In order to receive IPv4 allocations or assignments during the Exhaustion Phase, the LIR or End User must have used at least 90% of all previous allocations or assignments (including those made during both the Current Phase and the Exhaustion Phase)

In the case of new LIRs or End Users with no previous allocations or assignments, this requirement does not apply to their first allocation or assignment request.

5.4.6.1 As a condition precedent to the receipt of any IPv4 allocation or assignment during the Exhaustion Phase, a Local Internet Registry (“LIR”) or End User shall demonstrate utilisation of not less than ninety per cent (90%) of all prior IPv4 allocations or assignments received, including those made during both the Current Phase and the Exhaustion Phase.

The foregoing requirement shall not apply to the first allocation or assignment request submitted by a new LIR or End User having no previous IPv4 allocations or assignments.

Notwithstanding the above, the utilisation requirement may be waived in respect of network operators seeking additional IPv4 resources for demonstrated key technical purposes, which can be illustrated to not be practically serviceable or giving rise to technical constraints affecting the operator’s existing resource pool. Non-limiting examples are redundancy and high-availability deployments, IPv6 transition mechanisms, or expansion to new sites. In such circumstances, the relevant request shall be treated as a first allocation or assignment request for the purposes of this provision. The request justification must be sufficiently documented, in such way that AFRINIC can verify the compliance with the provided justification.

4. References

In other regions, all IPv4 addresses have been exhausted and it seems that the equivalent to the soft-landing is not any more an issue, because most of the existing members only can access IPv4 addresses via transfers.

AFRINIC Policy Impact Assessment

1. DPP Details


Field	Details
Policy ID	AFPUB-2026-IPv4-002-DRAFT02
Policy Name	Amendment of Utilisation in Soft Landing
URL of Policy Proposal	AfriNIC-Amendment of Utilisation in Soft Landing -AFPUB-2026-IPv4-002-DRAFT02
Date of Assessment	19 June 2026
Affected CPM Section	Article 5.4.6.1 of the CPM regarding eligibility for IPv4 allocations or assignments during the Exhaustion Phase.
Version of IA	v1

2. Previous Versions — Impact Assessments

Version	URL
v1	First version of this staff impact assessment for this proposal.
Current status	No previous published assessment identified for this proposal.

3. AFRINIC Staff Assessment

3.1 Staff Interpretation & Understanding of the Proposal

The 90% threshold requirement remains the underlying condition to assess eligibility for receiving additional IPv4 resources from AFRINIC. However, some technical constraints deem it necessary to override this threshold requirement. Operational constraints shall not be considered as justification to override this threshold requirement.

Benefit to AFRINIC: Hostmasters will have a clearly documented policy for guidance when dealing with such cases.
Impact on Resource Members: Members will be able to use the policy if faced with such technical constraints while having used less than 90% of their allocations and assignments.

3.2 Clarity of Policy Text

Overall, the proposal is clear and easy to understand.

3.3 Areas of Impact

3.3.1 Interaction with Existing CPM

Policy will update Section 5.4.6.1 of the CPM

3.3.2 Interaction with Other DPPs Under Discussion

No overlaps detected

3.3.3 Impact on IP Numbers Registry Systems

System	Impact
WHOIS	None
RDAP	None
MyAFRINIC (Hostmaster, Member Portal, Transfer Tool)	None
NetSuite	None
NMRP	None
RPKI	None

3.3.4 Member Services Operations

Procedures:

MS Procedures will be updated to include policy provisions.

The procedure will also have to evolve in a way that fraudulent requests are identified, and there is no abusive use of the policy section

Website & Communications: Updates to FAQs.

3.4.5 IT

No impact

3.4.6 HR

No Impact.

3.4.7 Legal

No legal issue

3.4.8 Finance

No impact

4. Recommendations on Policy Wording

None

5. Staff Clarification Requests

None

6. Implementation Plan

Proposal can be implemented within the prescribed timelines in the CPM.

6.1 Timeline

Within 30 days of date of ratification

Policy Proposal

Last Modified on - 22 June 2026