A Tier 1 carrier is a telco or ISP that is at the top of the telecommunicationspeering 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.
