The statement below is being revised for final approval by the ALAC in the near future. All RALOs are requested to review the statement and provide input.
We are aware that sometime within a few years the current pool of IPv4 addresses will expire, which may have a significant impact on the use of Internet by broad public.
We ask the global address allocation registries to make sure that the allocation of the remaining pool of IPv4 addresses be done in a fair and equitable manner. The challenge here is what exactly we mean by “fair and equitable” – and we understand that this requires an open and inclusive policy development process. We respect the work done by the RIRs so far and we are willing to actively participate more.
We are concerned about the potential creation of a “anti-competitive market” of the IPv4 addresses and call for a rational way to make a secondary market a reality. We also call for a reasonable way of recollecting the unused IPv4 address blocks.
We also like to call for more outreach work initiated by the address community to make sure that the issues are understood clearly and the solutions are communicated openly.
We understand that the best solution to this challenge is to make a smooth and orderly transition to the broad use of IPv6. There are several challenges and tasks to make that to happen:
- Organize awareness campaign for the need for timely transition
- Avoid media scares by providing accurate information to wider public
- Make sure all “public sites” by governments and commercial service providers implement IPv4-v6 dual capacity in a timely manner
- That measures be taken to help developing countries to prepare for the transition in a timely and affordable manner
- Prepare a timeline under which we can operate the transition program, such as outreach, technical assistance and other preparation in a timely manner so that suitable, reliable and effective planning can be made
