[ARIN-consult] Consultation on ASN Fee Harmonization

[John Curran]

On Jul 10, 2023, at 11:48 PM, Steve Noble <snoble at sonn.com> wrote:

On Jul 10, 2023, at 3:02 PM, John Curran <jcurran at arin.net<mailto:jcurran at arin.net>> wrote:

On Jul 10, 2023, at 2:28 PM, Steve Noble <snoble at sonn.com<mailto:snoble at sonn.com>> wrote:
...

The ~6800 are ASN-Only holders (no IPv4 or IPv6 resources) with a single ASN.    The 313 are ASN-Only holders (no IPv4 or IPv6 resources) who have multiple ASNs.
John -
You did not answer the question, the 6800 is approximate, ARIN must know the actual number.

The number changes over time.  Today, the number of customers who only have ASNs is: 7169. Of these, 324 have multiple ASNs, and 6845 have just one ASN.

2. How many single ASN holding organizations are members of this mailing list?

Unknown.  The arin-consult mailing list is open to all interested parties who comply the Mailing List AUP and ARIN Participants Expected Standards of Behavior – these are not correlated to ASN holders.

This is concerning since 6800+ organizations would be affected and may not know so since they have not been members and would not be part of the members mailing list, etc.

Correct.  While all interested parties (who comply with the AUP and standards of behavior) can participate in arin-consult, they are presently not able to become ARIN member or participate in ARIN governance, including voting and the general members mailing list.  That is something that would change as a result of the ASN fee harmonization proposal – all customers who have ASNs would be service members and could opt to be general members if they so wished.

...
8. For due diligence, based on the data ARIN has compiled, how many of those single ASN organizations would qualify for IPv4 resources and be approved and have them allocated within the billing period that this change would happen? Does ARIN have 6800 /24 IPv4 blocks available to allocate to the affected parties?

They would all qualify for IPv4 or IPv6 if they are running a network and using their ASN to run BGP.   It probably goes without saying that there is more than enough IPv6 resources for all ASN-only customers...

For IPv4 resources, many would end up on the IPv4 waiting list today, but note that for those who wish to run IPv6, there is enough 4.10 transition IPv4 space (~14.5k /24s are available under 4.10 as of June 2023) to theoretically issue 4.10 IPv4 transition blocks to all of the ASN-Only holders.

I think that is a false equivalence comparing transition space to available space. For example I applied for my ASN 23 years ago, IPv4 space was much easier to get.  Had you charged the same fee whether I had space or not, I would have applied for space.

You asked about IPv4 blocks available to allocate to the affected parties, and the answer is that both IPv4 waiting list resources and NRPM 4.10 transitional IPv4 space (for those who are also running IPv6) are available for ASN holders – and would not change their 3X-small fee category if they were issued a /24 IPv4 block in either manner.

...
This change provides for recovering costs more equitably for services to across the ARIN customer base, with the added benefit of making ASN-only customers ARIN Service Members, thus providing them with the opportunity to become General Members and participate in ARIN governance if they so choose.

John - How much does it cost to provide service to an ASN only holder?  What actual, tangible benefit do they get with this change?  The affected organizations could have asked to be members or for IP space the entire time.

ASN-only customers are not (and cannot become) ARIN members today – that is only available to customers with IPv4 or IPv6 resources under a Registration Services Plan (RSP).

ARIN has to recover costs fairly across its entire customer base.  At present, all customers holding IPv4 resources and/or IPv6 resources are treated similarly based on their total resources held and the corresponding category on the RSP fee schedule.

Size categories on the RSP fee schedule span a 4x increase in total resources held, and then the next higher category begins with an annual fee twice that of the smaller category – thus the fees scale with resources held.

This is not the case for those with ASNs – they pay a fee for each and every ASN, and furthermore do not gain the ability to be ARIN members and this is not equitable treatment compared to RSP customers.

In addition, for those with IPv4 and/or IPv6 under a Registration Services Plan and also who have ASNs, their total number of ASN’s has no effect of their size category on the fee schedule or fees charged (their ASN maintenance cost is subsumed by the RSP plan) – even if they have hundreds of ASNs and very small IPv4/IPv6 holdings.  This obviously isn’t equitable when compared to those who have to pay the per-ASN maintenance fees today.

If the ASN fee harmonization is adopted, all ARIN customers will pay the same fees based their size category that us based on total resources held (regardless of whether those number resources are IPv4, IPv6, ASNs, or some combination), and all will be service members – with the option of becoming a general member and participating in ARIN governance and voting if they so choose.

Thanks!
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers




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