Page 1: News Post
IANA has assigned 2 more /8 blocks to APNIC, the Asia-Pacific IP number people. This should trigger the last remaining five blocks to be handed to other RIRs. Those will hand IPs downstream to smaller entities. While we may be nearly out of assignable blocks, there are many IPs that are dark and unused. Does the Post Office need a /8? I don't think so.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20030105-264.html
Quote
It's hard to predict how long it will be before these eventual customers of IPv4 addresses will be unable to get them easily.
"The rate of further regional assignment will depend on regional demand, which is accelerating faster in some parts of the world (Asia/Pacific) than others (Africa)," said Alain Durand, director of software engineering at network equipment maker Juniper Networks. "Some service providers may exhaust their IPv4 addresses within 3 to 6 months, while others will exhaust them perhaps over a longer period, depending on the rate at which they are allocated."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20030105-264.html