diff --git a/nettypes.cc b/nettypes.cc
index 5efb8ab63..a426cc5fc 100644
--- a/nettypes.cc
+++ b/nettypes.cc
@@ -97,9 +97,10 @@ ivl_variable_type_t netarray_t::base_type() const
       return element_type_->base_type();
 }
 
-unsigned long netrange_width(const vector<netrange_t>&packed)
+unsigned long netrange_width(const vector<netrange_t>&packed,
+			     unsigned int base_width)
 {
-      unsigned wid = 1;
+      unsigned wid = base_width;
       for (vector<netrange_t>::const_iterator cur = packed.begin()
 		 ; cur != packed.end() ; ++cur) {
 	    unsigned use_wid = cur->width();
diff --git a/nettypes.h b/nettypes.h
index 0f0d57958..df2cf457b 100644
--- a/nettypes.h
+++ b/nettypes.h
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ class netrange_t {
 extern std::ostream&operator << (std::ostream&out, const std::list<netrange_t>&rlist);
 extern std::ostream&operator << (std::ostream&out, const std::vector<netrange_t>&rlist);
 
-extern unsigned long netrange_width(const std::vector<netrange_t>&dims);
+extern unsigned long netrange_width(const std::vector<netrange_t>&dims,
+				    unsigned int base_width = 1);
 extern bool netrange_equivalent(const std::vector<netrange_t> &a,
 			        const std::vector<netrange_t> &b);