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 generally holds

• 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.

List of Tier 1 carriers:

• British Telecom (BT)
• Cable and Wireless[?]
• Global Crossing
• Level 3[?]
• Sprint[?]
• Williams Communications[?]
• WorldCom
• etc.

See also: peering points