Tier 1 carrier
A Tier 1 carrier is a telco or ISP that is at the top of the telecommunications peering and settlements food chain. Although there is no formal definition, the following statements generally hold:
- Tier 1 operators typically have operations in more than one country
- Tier 1 operators own and operate their own physical networks, and either own or part-own their international submarine cable links.
- Tier 1 operators have revenue-neutral peering agreements with other Tier 1 operators, and generally do not pay for transit.
For a list of Tier 1 carriers, see List of tier 1 internet service providers.
Also see