Michael, You wrote:
If you have 30 millions "dummy" DSL (or cable modem, or mobile-phone) users how would you provide IP addresses for them
According to current RIPE policy, you assign each one of these DSL or cable modem customers with a /48. Mobile phones are different and should probably get a /64 since their internal networks will not have additional interfaces added. Of course, in the future we will have mobile phones which can act as Internet gateways for our car LAN and then they will get a /48.
That's not actually what the current policy document says. It's actual wording is: 5.4.1. Assignment address space size End Users are assigned an End Site assignment from their LIR or ISP. The size of the assignment is a local decision for the LIR or ISP to make, using a minimum value of a /64 (only one subnet is anticipated for the End Site). The old policy (ripe-412) had the reference to RFC 3177 that you have paraphrased. But that recommendation has been removed and the only suggested limit is a minimum value of /64. Apart from that minimum, the network operator can do whatever makes most sense to their network and customer base. So, in answer to the original question, 30m /64s is fine if that's what is needed and 30m /56s is fine if that's what is needed and 30m /48s is fine if that's what is needed. There is a presumption of subsidiarity in the policy text, putting the choice into local hands. Regards, Leo Vegoda