Simon Sohel Baroi opened APNIC's IPv6 door, kept the vote small

Simon Sohel Baroi Opened APNIC's IPv6 Door Without Selling a Bigger Vote

Why it matters

A small APNIC member can now take a first portable IPv6 /48 without an old IPv4 holding. The address can become real in routing within a year, while the member's fee tier and single vote stay small. Simon Sohel Baroi helped write the rule that made those three decisions meet.

Sofia Ren2 November 2026Reading Time 2 minLast update: 2 November 2026

Simon Sohel Baroi; likeness grounded in a named MANRS ambassador photograph. The network room and deployment graphic are imagined.

Summary

Simon Sohel Baroi and Aftab Siddiqui's prop-155 opened an IPv6 provider-independent /48 to Associate Members without a prior IPv4 assignment. APNIC implemented it on 7 May 2024.
APNIC's active guidelines require use and announcement within twelve months. Its membership rules leave a holder of a non-chargeable first /48 in the one-vote Associate tier.

An address with a deadline, not a promotion

Baroi's proposal dealt with a strange entrance ticket: an organization wanting to start with portable IPv6 could be asked to show an earlier IPv4 holding. Prop-155 removed that dependency for Associate Members. The current APNIC guideline says an organization or individual without a previously delegated IPv4 assignment from any RIR can apply for a /48 IPv6 PI assignment. The applicant still has to justify the requested space. The address then has a twelve-month clock: use it and announce it, or APNIC may reclaim it after checking deployment.

The address rule met the membership rule in a different room. APNIC's Executive Council minutes record Resolution 2024-16: the first /48 PI is a non-chargeable resource for members and non-members. The EC called the long-term fee effect uncertain and instructed staff to monitor uptake and usage. That is a resource-charge decision; it does not erase every membership charge.

A non-chargeable /48 also stays outside the holdings used to calculate membership tier. Under the active voting schedule, an Associate Member with only that /48 remains Associate and has one vote at member meetings. The next tier has two. Baroi helped widen entry to an address without quietly doubling the entrant's formal vote.

The proposal record marks consensus in September 2023, EC endorsement in December, and implementation the following May. Its impact assessment also challenged the draft's absolute non-transferability language because APNIC's merger-and-acquisition transfer policy had its own rule. The enacted access test, fee treatment and voting tier are the consequential parts visible today.

The public record cited here lacks a count of first /48s assigned, actually announced or reclaimed. Those numbers would show whether this door brought new networks through it.

Sources: prop-155; IPv6 guidelines; membership and votes; EC minutes.