An AS numberAS number (ASN) Unique number of a network (autonomous system) on the internet. Needed to pass your own routes to other networks over BGP. (ASN) is how your network introduces itself in BGP. Every route you announce carries it as the origin, your upstreams filter on it and RPKIRPKI Resource Public Key Infrastructure: signed data about who may announce which IP space. Networks use it to reject forged routes. ties your prefixes to it. If you want to buy IP transit from more than one provider, you need one. In Europe that goes through RIPE NCC, and the process is straightforward. It does start with a requirement that is often misunderstood.
The requirement: two neighbours and a policy of your own
The misconception is that an ASN is a formality, something you obtain because it looks professional. The RIPE policy (ripe-679) is brief: a network must be multihomed to qualify, and with the request you supply the routing policyRouting policy The rules a network uses to decide which routes it accepts, prefers and passes on, and to whom. RIPE NCC asks for it when you request an AS number. of your AS, written in RPSL as the RIPE Database uses it. Multihomed means you run BGP with at least two other networks: two transit providers, or a transit provider and an internet exchange.
Two sessions to the same provider give you redundancy, not a policy of your own. For that you need a second network.
Since 2025 there was a proposal (2025-01) to drop the multihomingMultihoming Connecting your network to the internet through two or more providers, with BGP and your own AS number, so losing one provider does not take you offline. requirement for your first ASN. It was withdrawn in July 2026, so the requirement still stands.
What RIPE NCC wants to see:
- Two BGP neighbours — the networks you will peer with, including their contact addresses. A concrete plan is enough.
- A routing policy — what you import from whom and what you export to whom. Usually: the full table or a default route from your upstreams, only your own prefixes towards them.
- A contract — with RIPE NCC itself if you become a member, or with a sponsoring LIRLIR Local Internet Registry: a RIPE NCC member that manages IP space and AS numbers and can request them for others (sponsorship). that submits the request on your behalf. That includes an end user agreement and your company details.
- A sanctions check — RIPE NCC runs one on every resource request, including an ASN.
What it costs
In 2026 RIPE NCC charges € 50 per year per assigned ASN, including ASNs registered through a sponsoring LIR (RIPE-848). The LIR pays that fee and passes it on, usually with a service fee of its own on top. If you also request your own IPv6 space (PI), add € 75 per year per assignment.
Becoming a LIR yourself is the other route. That costs € 1,000 once and € 1,800 per year (2026). For one ASN and an IPv6 prefix it is rarely the cheapest option, but there are cases where it pays off. That trade-off deserves its own calculation.
How long it takes
RIPE NCC does not publish a fixed turnaround. Sponsoring LIRs quote anything from a few business days to two weeks in their own material. The time is rarely in the evaluation and almost always in your own preparation: getting the signed contract back, company details that match the business register, and a routing policy that fits the neighbours you list. If that is in order beforehand, you are mostly waiting on RIPE.
What does take time is everything around it. A transit session needs a cross-connect or transport, a prefix list and an IRRIRR Internet Routing Registry: databases (such as RIPE's) where networks record which prefixes they announce. The source for prefix filters. check. Plan that in parallel with the request, not after it.
After assignment: a number, but nothing to announce yet
A number alone announces nothing. You still need:
- Address space — IPv4 PI has not been handed out for years, so for your own /24 you depend on the transfer market or a supplier. Hardly any network accepts anything smaller than a /24. IPv6 PI (usually a /48) you request through your sponsoring LIR.
- RIPE Database objects — an aut-num with your policy, route and route6 objects for your prefixes, and an AS-SET once you have customers with their own AS. Your upstreams build their prefix lists from these.
- ROAs — so networks that validate RPKI see your routes as valid.
- PeeringDB — many providers and exchanges expect an up-to-date entry with a realistic max-prefix.
Mind the format as well. RIPE NCC has not distinguished between 16-bit and 32-bit ASNs since 2010, so you will almost certainly get a 32-bit number. BGP itself handles that fine, but standard communities do not: they only have 16 bits for the AS. If you want communities of your own, use large communities; see BGP communities. Also check that your monitoring and older configuration expect the number as a single integer (asplain).
Requesting it through us
Through our parent company we are a RIPE NCC member, and we handle ASN sponsorship and guide resource requests. What you get is on LIR services. Transit on our own network can be one of your two neighbours. From our data centre you can also connect directly to an internet exchangeInternet exchange (IX) A hub where networks exchange traffic (peer) with many other networks through a single port, such as AMS-IX or NL-ix. over our EVPN and peer with other networks there; what your first session looks like is in the technical version, and the offer itself is on IP transit. If you want to think your routing policy through first, the BGP training is a logical step. Not sure whether you need your own ASN at all? Get in touch.