Summary

  • AFRINIC’s 25 September snapshot records a 24 September 12:21:02 UTC event, classified MERGER_ACQUISITION, from Fliber (Pty) Ltd to Level 7 Wireless (Pty) Ltd for four IPv4 prefixes totalling 3,328 addresses.
  • RIPEstat shows AS328533 as the observed origin for all four at 18:00 UTC, then AS327901 in a 00:00 UTC snapshot the next day; its update feed first records the latter origin at 19:48:54 UTC.
  • A registry classification and a collector-observed route sequence are separate evidence. Their order does not prove a legal closing, an ASN transfer or that one caused the other.

One record describes a resource event; another describes routes seen by collectors. They are related in time, but they answer different questions.

AFRINIC’s cumulative file produced at 02:00:02 UTC on 25 September contains a row dated 24 September at 12:21:02 UTC. It names Fliber (Pty) Ltd as source and Level 7 Wireless (Pty) Ltd as recipient, labels the event MERGER_ACQUISITION and lists four ranges:

Prefix Range Addresses
102.36.208.0/22 102.36.208.0–102.36.211.255 1,024
102.221.208.0/22 102.221.208.0–102.221.211.255 1,024
102.214.189.0/24 102.214.189.0–102.214.189.255 256
102.208.72.0/22 102.208.72.0–102.208.75.255 1,024

Together they total 3,328 addresses. The previous day’s 02:00 UTC file contains 128 rows and no matching event, but it was generated before the row’s 12:21 UTC event time. That is a before-event comparison, not evidence that AFRINIC withheld or delayed a record. By 25 September, the cumulative file has 129 rows; the 28 September snapshot retains the same row.

The routing sequence comes from a different system. RIPE NCC’s BGP State endpoint returns AS328533 as the observed origin for each prefix at 18:00 UTC on 24 September. The BGP Updates endpoint shows its first returned AS327901-origin announcement for each prefix at 19:48:54 UTC; the latest returned AS328533-origin announcements are at 19:49:37. At 00:00 UTC on 25 September, the BGP State snapshot returns AS327901 for all four. RIPEstat’s AS Overview currently labels AS328533 Fliber (Pty) Ltd and AS327901 Level 7 Wireless (Pty) Ltd.

That is a bounded sequence in RIPE RIS observations, not a synchronized view of every network. RIPEstat says its state is derived from collector routing-table snapshots and intervening updates; its update feed records announcements seen by collector peers. The last AS in an observed AS path is the origin for that route, not a measurement of traffic or a guarantee that every operator selected it.

The records therefore support two claims: AFRINIC lists four resources in an event it classifies as a merger or acquisition, and RIPE’s collectors later observe the prefixes with a different origin ASN. They do not connect those claims causally. The AFRINIC row does not document a contract or closing, while the RIPE observations do not establish who controlled the business, why the route changed or whether users noticed anything. The row lists address ranges, not an ASN transfer. The two current ASN-holder labels do not mean an ASN itself moved.

The distinction matters because a registry’s event field and a BGP origin are not interchangeable forms of proof. A date-aligned comparison makes the chronology legible; it does not turn chronology into an explanation.

Sources