[ppml] Policy Proposal 2003-15: IPv4 Allocation Policy for the Africa Portion of the ARIN Region

[Ray Plzak]

ARIN already exclusively uses 196 /8 for allocations to the African part
of the ARIN region.  ARIN is in negotiation with RIPE NCC and APNIC with
using this block for their allocations.  Since this is a procedural
matter and not a policy matter wrt to a specific /8 the policy propsers,
(the African ISPs) did not think that this was important.

Ray

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ppml at arin.net [mailto:owner-ppml at arin.net] On 
> Behalf Of william at elan.net
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2003 3:25 PM
> To: Member Services
> Cc: ppml at arin.net
> Subject: Re: [ppml] Policy Proposal 2003-15: IPv4 Allocation 
> Policy for the Africa Portion of the ARIN Region
> 
> 
> Add the following into this since we're talking about African Region.
> 
> "4. All allocations and assignments for African Portion of 
> ARIN Region 
>  will be made out of distinct /8 reserved for such purpose 
> and it should
>  be reported to IANA which ip block is reserved for African 
> Region. The 
>  first such reserved African Region ip block shall be 196/8"
> 
> Reasoning is to do it similar to LACNIC (for which ARIN was 
> using 200/8
> for all allocations) and when AfriNIC to ready to be able to 
> transfer /8 
> to it with as little outside pollution as possible, plus 
> since we have 
> this special /22 allocation policy, it would be good to have exact /8 
> identified in ARIN region as being used for /22 allocations.
> 
> Reason for 196/8 is because this ip block currently has 
> enough free space
> (9227 /24 blocks allocated - 14%, 56309 /24 ip blocks not 
> allocated - 85%) 
> for Africa and of the allocation 14% of the blocks, about 1/3 
> are already 
> for organizations in Africa - largest portion of African 
> allocations then 
> any other ip block ARIN has. Do note that currently IANA 
> identifies 196/8 
> as "Various Registries - Early Internic Registrations" which 
> generally 
> means ARIN is not allowed to make current registrations out 
> of it (but I 
> have in fact seen new registrations as close as 2001 made to 
> africa out of 
> this ip block), ARIN should oficially request IANA to change it and 
> identify to IANA that it will be making new allocations out 
> of this ip 
> block for African portion of the net.
> 
> On Mon, 22 Sep 2003, Member Services wrote:
> 
> > ARIN welcomes feedback and discussion about the following policy 
> > proposal in the weeks leading to the ARIN Public Policy Meeting 
> > in Chicago, Illinois, scheduled for October 22-23, 2003. 
> All feedback 
> > received on the mailing list about this policy proposal will be 
> > included in the discussions that will take place at the upcoming 
> > Public Policy Meeting. 
> > 
> > This policy proposal discussion will take place on the ARIN Public 
> > Policy Mailing List. Subscription information is available at
> > http://www.arin.net/mailing_lists/index.html 
> > 
> > Member Services 
> > American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) 
> > 
> > ### * ###
> > 
> > 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: 
> > 
> > Change the minimum allocation size from a /20 to /22. 
> > 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.
>