Probably all those CATV operators should be LIRs in the first place anyway.
Indeed. Running your own infra with a sub-allocation (or even worse, an assignment) from an LIR has it's risks, which you must take into account when planning your business. Even if you have a contractual agreement saying you can run off with the addresses once you're no longer buying connectivity from the LIR, it's still a risk. (I know some LIRs do allow using their address-space as practically your own, but that's only as long as the contract is valid). Also worth remembering in RIPE region is that if you're running any kind of ISP business with IPv4 PI (as in you have customers who use your addresses), you can't do the same with IPv6 PI. The policy doesn't allow that and it continues to come as a surprise to some. Therefore the only reasonable choice is to become an LIR (and plan your business so that you can afford it :-) ). ____________________________________ Tero Toikkanen Nebula Oy