If you are referring to some of the blocks below, that is a very good question. If you are referring to /8s in general, that is even a better question. The FCC-regulated carriers would likely take the view that they plan to use whatever address space they please, when they need it. They have the clout, via a growing user base, and FCC ties to make that happen. They certainly are not going to run around the world to non-profit quango hot-tub parties to debate and trade address spaces. As for the non-profit quangos, they now have tens of millions of dollars to retire and party for the rest of their lives. All they have to do is continue to play out their little charades about I* governance and stewardship of shared resources (which now come free from the FCC regulated carriers). As for the users (and next generation ISPs), they now see the light (or the Vista) and realize that they can route around the entire fantasy, again, without spending a dime. Do you think they will be sending donations to the non-profit quangos ? What would motivate them to do that ? There are other more subtle issues coming down the road that impact the address space(s). One of the major issues is that there is a growing bandwidth gap between the big island (the USA) and the rest of the planet. It makes no sense to tie up address allocations to locations that one can not send broadband packets to no matter how hard you try. It is easier to move those users to other service platforms, such as SMS cell phone technology. That is being done and that will make more address space available when the FCC regulated carriers decide to grab it. There is a huge amount of wasted/unused space. Given some of the above, one may wonder why the non-profit quangos are running around claiming the sky is falling in depleted address allocations. One reason is that they have banked tens of millions of dollars selling "virgin" space. Now that people have it, and view they own it, they are never giving it back. They also may not see a need to continue paying a lease fee each year. What do they get for those fees? Is that protection money that makes its way to the routing mafia ? Back to your question about whether "Class A" address space is important (vs. what once was called Class E), it will be interesting to see how the various players below approach the coming "end game". Some of the companies do not even exist any more. How do they play ? Also, how do they justify such large allocations ? Would they lend their space to an FCC-regulated carrier in return for some free connections? (BTW...that happens in the small ISP arenas) As for the users, they just want it to work, and to continue to become intertwined with their TV, radio and other media experiences. As they do that, they will find more and more FCC "partnerships" calling the shots. Since people are already paying for the FCC to do what they do, why pay again for a bunch of non-profit quangos to create a charade that looks like the FCC. Why also would people pay when they find out that the non-profits are full of clueless .NET groupies playing out some 60's style hippie road show, with chants about "the community". Again, the FCC and the FCC regulated carriers are not going to get into those hot tub parties. They have a network to run. 000/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved 001/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved 002/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved 003/8 May 94 General Electric Company 004/8 Dec 92 Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Updated - Apr 07) 005/8 Jul 95 IANA - Reserved 006/8 Feb 94 Army Information Systems Center 007/8 Apr 95 IANA - Reserved 008/8 Dec 92 Level 3 Communications, Inc. 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