The prices that have to be paid for IPv4 addresses are structurally declining, reports the Dutch Internet Domain Registration Foundation (SIDN), the organization that manages .nl domain names. This is partly due to declining demand and the adoption of IPv6. As more parties switch to IPv6, the need for IPv4 addresses will also decrease, causing their prices to eventually collapse, SIDN predicts.
In 2022 there was another peak in the prices paid for IPv4 addresses. Depending on the number of IPv4 addresses in a block, 50 to 60 dollars were paid per address. That amount dropped significantly last year. According to SIDN, there are several possible explanations for the falling prices. For example, cloud providers purchased large quantities of IPv4 addresses in recent years, but that demand has now passed.
“Another reason mentioned is an increase in prices in 2021 as a result of the restart of the economy after the corona crisis, followed by a decline due to the tilt in the economic cycle,” SIDN said. That sees a structural decline in prices for IPv4 addresses across the entire block size range. If major holders put unused IPv4 addresses on the market, this will drive the price down even faster. In addition, the decline will continue as more parties switch to IPv6.
Furthermore, SIDN states that it is only a matter of time before the first IPv6-only services become available (probably in Asia or South America), which will then be inaccessible to IPv4-only clients. The foundation regularly warns that IPv6 adoption in the Netherlands is coming to a standstill. “This backlog is causing us economic damage. It makes the Netherlands unattractive for new initiatives in the field of the Internet of Things (IoT) and it affects our innovation image and business climate,” the foundation said.
