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IPv4 to run out in Europe before the end of the year (posted 2019-09-09)

Seven years ago, the RIPE NCC, which serves Europe, the middle east and the former Soviet Union, was no longer able to give out IPv4 address space to ISPs and other networks as needed. From that point on, the "last /8" policy came into effect, which meant that each "RIPE member" or local internet registry (LIR) could get one last IPv4 /22 (block of 1024 addresses). It very much looks like that last bit of IPv4 address space will run out before the end of the year.

Right before the final /8 policy came into effect, the RIPE NCC was giving out about a million IPv4 addresses per week. In 2019, they gave out a million IPv4 addresses every three months in the form of those final /22s. And now it's a million IPv4 addresses every six weeks, with two million left to go. Apparently, many new LIRs are set up to get one of those /22s while they last.

latest version of this image on the RIPE website

So in all likelihood RIPE will move from the final /8 policy to a new policy, where LIRs are put on a waiting list and get a /24 as those become available, before the end of 2019.