AfriNIC IPv6 Soft Landing

Amend article 5.4.4 of the CPM, as follows:

Current

Proposed

5.4.4 For any LIR or End User requesting IPv4 address space during the Exhaustion There is no explicit limit on the number of times an organization may request additional IPv4 address space during the Exhaustion Period.

5.4.4 For any LIR or End User requesting IPv4 address space during the Exhaustion There is no explicit limit on the number of times an organization may request additional IPv4 address space during the Exhaustion Period. However, any IPv4 request must be done with a simultaneous IPv6 request (if not already done previously). Regardless of if the IPv6 requests was already done previously or simultaneously with the IPv4 request, the relevant allocation/assignment criteria conditions must be met. In addition, a coherent IPv6 deployment and addressing plan, must be presented clearly showing how will be met: * 6.5.1.1.3 and 6.5.1.1.4, in the case of LIRs. * 6.8.2.2.d, in the case of end-users. Failure to comply with the IPv6 deployment plan according to the relevant criteria, imply an IPv4 Soft Landing Policy breach.

4. References

In other regions, all IPv4 addresses have been exhausted and it seems that the equivalent to the soft-landing is not any more an issue, because most of the existing members only can access IPv4 addresses via transfers. Some of them have waiting lists,

ARIN has a dedicated IPv4 pool (NRPM 4.10.) to facilitate IPv6 deployment, which only can be used for specific IPv6 deployment needs.

In LACNIC, a request for IPv4 must be accompanied by an IPv6 request (if it was not already done for that member). This was already part of the IPv4 policy even before the equivalent to the “Soft Landing” policy.

There are some other exceptions, like for example the mandatory deployment of IPv6 in IXPs.

Revision History

Date	Details
22/05/2026	Version 1: AFPUB-2026-v6-001-DRAFT01 Initial Draft Posted to RPD

AFRINIC Staff Assessment (To be available soon)