On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 8:40 AM, Garry Glendown <garry@nethinks.com> wrote:
Anyway, I've been wondering for a while - how many new ISPs (or LIRs, for that matter) have been founded over the last - say - 2 years? Given the technical requirements as far as performance and bandwidths go, and the low end user prices for Internet connectivity, I don't see how there are any feasible business models to start an ISP business nowadays... this poses the question whether saving v4 addresses for new ISPs/LIRs is even relevant ...
I assume you mean Internet access providers when you write ISP, and not those who provide e.g. hosting services etc. Hosting service companies crop up all the time. I don't have the numbers, but I'm working for a medium-sized outfit in that business, and we've seen new competitors cropping up more often in 2011 and 2012 than was typical for the previous 5-10 years. Fortunately, hosting providers can often make do with a small number of IP addresses, comparatively speaking. Unfortunately, due to Facebook, a LOT of end users want SSL connectivity for their websites (blogs and whatnot). -- Jan