Summary

  • RIPE NCC’s 1 November delegated file listed 159.200.0.0–159.200.127.255 as one 32,768-address assignment; its 2 November file lists three contiguous pieces with the same 1993 assignment date.
  • Current RIPE RDAP names EscrowTele.Com Limited on the 1,024-address middle piece and Netnova Limited on both outer pieces, which together hold 31,744 addresses.

Thirty-three years can sit in one column while twelve seconds remake the visible map. RIPE NCC’s 1 November extended statistics file has a single Hong Kong-coded assigned row for 159.200.0.0 through 159.200.127.255. Its value is 32,768; its date is 1 September 1993. In the 2 November file, that one row is gone. Three rows cover exactly the same addresses: 20,480 from .0 to .79, 1,024 from .80 to .83, and 11,264 from .84 to .127. Their total remains 32,768. Their 1993 date is untouched.

The middle is the story. RIPE’s RDAP record for 159.200.80.0–83.255 calls it EscrowTele and names EscrowTele.Com Limited as registrant. Its registration and last-change events are both stamped 08:37:48 UTC on 2 November. The first outer range and second outer range name Netnova Limited, each registered twelve seconds earlier at 08:37:36. The two Netnova pieces add up to 31,744 addresses. A once-unbroken line in the daily file now has a separately named middle.

The RIR statistics specification explains the apparent time trick: the date field records the original assignment, while the file is a daily snapshot, not a transaction log. It also says opaque holder IDs can change between editions. A reader comparing only dates—or treating a changed ID as a sale—will miss the actual, narrower fact: the published registration boundary moved on 2 November. The records give no case document explaining the administrative route.

Sources: RIPE 1 November file; RIPE 2 November file; RIPE RDAP middle range; RIPE statistics format.