[ppml] Last Call for Comment: Policy Proposal 2003-15

[Member Services]

The ARIN Advisory Council voted to forward the following policy
proposal to the ARIN Board of Trustees for consideration.

This is a last call for comments on this policy proposal prior
to the ARIN Board of Trustees review. Comments received during
this period will be included with the proposal when it is presented
to the Board of Trustees for their consideration.

Please send your comments to ppml at arin.net. This last call will
expire at 23:59 EST on December 3, 2003.


Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)


*** Last Call: Policy Proposal 2003-15: IPv4 Allocation Policy
for the Africa Portion of the ARIN Region ***

1. Minimum Allocation. The minimum allocation size for ISPs
from the African portion of the ARIN region is /22.

2. Allocation Criteria.

a. The requesting organization must show the efficient
utilization of an entire previously allocated /22 from their
upstream ISP. This allocation (/22) may have been provided
by an ISP's upstream provider(s), and does not have to be
contiguous address space. The organization must meet the
requirement of efficient use of 4 /24s.

b. A multi-homed organization must show the efficient
utilization of an entire previously allocated /23 from their
upstream ISP. This allocation (/23) may have been provided
by an ISP's upstream provider(s), and does not have to be
contiguous address space. The organization must meet the
requirement of efficient use of 2 /24s.

3. Utilization Reporting and Justification. All other ARIN
policies regarding the reporting of justification
information for the allocation of IPv4 address space will
remain in effect.

**********************************************************

Discussion:

This proposal is the result of the discussion and agreement
of those ISPs in the ARIN region that were in attendance at
the AfriNIC meeting held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on
September 17, 2003.

This policy proposal is submitted with the intent it only be
applied to the Africa portion of the ARIN region, i.e.,
those countries in Africa that are in the ARIN region.

It is proposed the minimum allocation criteria and minimum
allocation size for ISPs in Africa be modified.
Specifically, the following modifications to IPv4 policy are
proposed:

   1. Change the minimum allocation size from a /20 to /22.
   2. Change the ISP criteria for obtaining an allocation
   to the following.

      CRITERIA POINT 1
      
      Current Criteria: The current IPv4 policy for ISPs
      calls for "the efficient utilization of an entire
      previously allocated /20 from their upstream ISP" in
      order to qualify for a /20 allocation from ARIN.
      
      Proposed Criteria: It is proposed the IPv4 policy for
      ISPs call for "the efficient utilization of an entire
      previously allocated /22 from their upstream ISP" in
      order to qualify for a /22 allocation from ARIN.
      
      CRITERIA POINT 2
      
      Current Criteria: The current IPv4 multi-homed policy
      states "Multi-homed organizations that have
      efficiently utilized a /21 may be allocated a /20."
      
      Proposed Criteria: It is proposed the IPv4 multi-
      homed policy state that, "Multi-homed organizations
      that have efficiently utilized a /23 may be allocated
      a /22."

Due to the emerging nature of Internet services in Africa
and the economic environment, it is often not possible for
ISPs to meet the current ARIN criteria for the smallest
allocation size of a /20, or to obtain the IPv4 address
space they need from an upstream provider in their area of
operation. It is due to these reasons, and others listed
below, that this proposal is submitted.

Arguments for Policy Change

* The economies of Africa and those of other countries in
the ARIN region (United States and Canada) are not of the
same scale. The number of Internet users inside Africa is
much fewer than in the other countries in the ARIN region.
Whereas it may be reasonable to expect that the user numbers
in North America support an ISP's ability to meet the
current ARIN IPv4 criteria, it is not reasonable in Africa.

* Unable to meet the current criteria to obtain IPv4 address
space from ARIN, and unable to obtain adequate address space
from upstream providers; African ISPs must resort to
solutions such as NAT, or sometimes are simply not able to
provide services to customers due to the lack of IPv4
address space. Lack of adequate IPv4 address space may be
slowing down the growth and development of the Internet in
Africa.

Proposed Timetable for Implementation

It is requested this policy proposal be discussed on the
ARIN public policy mailing list and at the ARIN public
policy meeting in October 2003. It is further requested this
policy proposal receive immediate attention of the ARIN
Advisory Council and Board of Trustees following the October
2003 meeting for implementation before the close of the 2003
calendar year. Implementation of this policy change is
critical to the growth and development of the Internet in
the Africa portion of the ARIN region.

## END ##