LACNIC’s Exhausted IPv4 Pool Assigned 34 Blocks in Q3. Show the Queue.

Summary

• LACNIC’s quarterly registry chart records 14 IPv4 block assignments in Q1 2026, 25 in Q2 and 34 in Q3.
• LACNIC staff say the free IPv4 pool ran out in August 2020; present assignments use returned or recovered addresses through a waiting list.

“Exhausted” is an accurate description of the free pool, but it can be a lousy description of the registry’s work. LACNIC’s own chart shows the IPv4 assignment counter rising for three quarters: 14, then 25, then 34. The third quarter ended on 30 September 2026. That is 73 allocation events in nine months, with the busiest quarter last. The chart counts blocks, not addresses, and gives neither their sizes nor the recipients.

The same dashboard reports 197 IPv6 block assignments and 211 ASN assignments in Q3. Those are separate resource classes, not a denominator for the IPv4 queue. Their presence in one dashboard makes the tension sharper: the registry can publish quarterly activity, yet the IPv4 number alone says little about whether a waiting organization has advanced.

LACNIC’s staff explained the mechanics in 2025: after the free pool ran out on 19 August 2020, returned and recovered space could be assigned through a waiting list. Its exhaustion-phase rules describe a quarantine before recovered space re-enters circulation. That is an administrative supply chain with a clock. The chart shows its output, but omits the input and queue position.

The missing record is concrete: a dated quarterly reconciliation of prefixes recovered or returned, blocks released from quarantine, assignments made and queue positions served. Publish those four lines and 34 becomes a useful service measure. Without them, the number is an intriguing doorbell in a building whose waiting room is off camera.

Sources: LACNIC registry chart, LACNIC staff explanation, LACNIC exhaustion phases.