- IPv4 scarcity has turned IP holdings from passive infrastructure into strategic financial assets — large contiguous blocks now trade below $20 per address, while smaller fragments command $35–52.
- ISPs that audit, benchmark and optimise their address portfolios can tap leasing revenue at roughly $0.40 per address per month, with APNIC regions pushing above $0.60.
The quiet shift in how ISPs think about addresses
For years, internet service providers treated IPv4 addresses the way utilities treat copper wire — essential but unremarkable. That era is over.
By January 2026, the global IPv4 pool had hit 3.687 billion allocated addresses, with regional internet registries holding a combined free pool of just 3.9 million, according to ARIN statistics. The maths is blunt: new addresses are effectively gone.
Geoff Huston, Chief Scientist at APNIC, saw this coming. “The emergence of an aftermarket in IPv4 addresses was inevitable,” he observed. RIPE NCC’s transfer records confirm the scale — over 4,500 IPv4 transfers processed in 2024 alone. This is no longer a niche market.
BTW has previously explored how scarcity and registry recognition create economic value in What makes an IP address a form of digital capital. The investment angle was examined in IPv4 addresses: The hidden gem of micro-investments. But for ISPs sitting on address blocks they acquired years ago, a more immediate question remains: what is this portfolio actually worth today?
Also Read: What makes an IP address a form of digital capital
Also Read: IPv4 addresses: The hidden gem of micro-investments
Where prices stand — and why they diverge
Reporters tracking IPv4 transactions have noticed a widening gap. Large contiguous allocations of /16 or greater currently trade below $20 per address, reflecting institutional buyers’ preference for clean, routable space. Smaller fragments — /22 to /24 — command premiums of $35–52, driven by enterprise demand and the overhead of managing scattered holdings.
Lease markets tell a different story. Typical rates sit around $0.40 per address per month globally. But APNIC regions run noticeably higher, above $0.60, because stricter transfer policies and tighter regional supply push lessees toward longer commitments. Industry sources say this ARIN-APNIC pricing gap has widened over the past two years as Asian cloud and hosting providers compete harder for a shrinking pool.
What does this mean for an ISP that hasn’t checked its own numbers recently? Quite a lot.
A practical valuation framework
Portfolio valuation is not an academic exercise — it feeds directly into M&A positioning, financing terms and network planning. Here is how operators are approaching it.
Start with a full inventory audit. List every IPv4 block under management: prefix lengths, original allocation sources, registration dates. This baseline reveals which holdings are operationally essential and which could generate revenue. Sounds obvious, but industry observers note that many mid-sized ISPs have never done this systematically.
Measure actual utilisation. Network telemetry and DHCP logs show how many addresses are active versus idle. Blocks sitting below 60–70 per cent utilisation are candidates for lease or transfer. The temptation is to hoard — but dormant addresses earn nothing.
Benchmark against regional markets. Pricing diverges sharply across RIR jurisdictions. ARIN and RIPE NCC regions have more liquid transfer markets with standardised policies. APNIC’s stricter inter-RIR transfer rules create regional premiums. Timing matters: operators who track quarterly pricing trends rather than annual averages tend to get better deals.
Check address reputation. This one trips people up. Clean ranges — free from spam, abuse or hijacking history — attract better pricing and faster closings. Buyers routinely check reputation databases before committing. ISPs should audit and remediate issues well before bringing blocks to market.
Heng Lu, founder of IPv4 brokerage larus.net, argues on his personal website heng.lu that pricing, utilisation timing and transaction structure all affect realised returns. That tracks with what brokers report: preparation quality correlates directly with final sale or lease price.
A European case worth noting
It is widely circulated within the industry that several European telecom operators uncovered significant unused address space during audits ahead of fibre network rollouts. Rather than sitting on idle resources, they reportedly structured lease arrangements with regional hosting providers and CDNs.
One such case, as described by IP brokerage sources, involved a mid-sized ISP with roughly 65,000 unused addresses that rolled out a phased lease strategy. After brokerage fees, the arrangement is said to have yielded about $0.38 per address per month — translating to annual revenue exceeding $290,000 from previously dormant assets. The lease structure reportedly preserved the ISP’s option to reclaim addresses if network expansion demanded it. Brokers familiar with similar deals say that reclaim clause is typically what makes these arrangements work for both sides.
Other operators are understood to have restructured portfolios ahead of mergers. Industry contacts note that a well-documented valuation process consistently strengthens negotiating positions with acquirers and supports better financing terms — tangible asset backing that goes beyond physical infrastructure.
The timing question ISPs cannot avoid
Three factors drive IPv4 valuation: scarcity, demand and usability. ISPs that track these systematically hold an edge over competitors still relying on guesswork.
But valuation also forces a harder question. With global IPv6 adoption at around 46 per cent — per Google’s own measurements — every ISP faces the same timing dilemma: acquire more IPv4 now, or accelerate the transition to IPv6? Real data on address values and lease economics sharpens that decision.
The operators who have done the work — audited, benchmarked, cleaned up reputation, tested the lease market — report that the exercise itself changes how they think about network assets. IP addresses are no longer just plumbing. They are measurable, tradable capital — and for ISPs that understand what their portfolio is worth, that shift is already paying off.
