Hi,
On 27 Aug 2026, at 12:58, James Kennedy via address-policy-wg
<[email protected]> wrote:
[…]
> 1. The renumbering mechanism punishes IPv6 growth
>
> This is the concern I raised in Edinburgh, and the IA confirms: considering
> current reservations, a request for additional PI space “will require
> renumbering in almost all cases” and “might be highly impactful and
> time-consuming for network operators”. Basic maths make this inevitable - the
> RIPE NCC usually reserves 2 bits of headroom around a PI assignment (e.g. /46
> for a /48), while nibble boundaries require 4. A holder whose IPv6 operations
> are growing is a success story that we want more of. Policy should make
> genuine IPv6 growth requests frictionless, not disruptive.
>
> Please keep in mind in all this that PI is the affordable route to provider
> independence for smaller organisations and operators in lower-income
> economies across our service region. These holders are least equipped to
> absorb a forced renumbering exercise.
Thanks for bringing the issue of fees up, James.
The main reason there is a problem for this proposal to fix is that we have a
rule requiring the assignment to be the end user. If the network operator had
an allocation they could make sub-allocations until, eventually, they make an
assignment to any user. And they’d have at least a /32, which would allow them
to develop an addressing plan that would support growth for a long time.
So while it’s not within the remit of this WG to solve, perhaps a solution to
the problem could be found in a new Charging Scheme. At the moment moving from
paying for a /48 and an ASN to a /32 and an ASN would mean paying 14 times as
much.
I support the goal of this proposal, which I see as removing barriers to
getting the resources needed by legitimate network operators. But the policy
text is fairly complex and I wonder if that’s because the core issue isn’t
policy but how much things cost.
Kind regards,
Leo
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