Tier 1 Internet Service Providers in India

Every country is connected with each other directly or indirectly with the help of submarine fiber optics cables to get access to the Internet. The main job of Tier 1 ISPs is to connect the 2 or more countries’ landmasses using fiber optics cable.

In India, we are connected to the world internet from Chennai, Cochin, Mumbai, Trivandrum, and Tuticorin IXP (Internet Exchange Point). IXP is an infrastructure like an office through which ISP (Internet Service Provider) and CDN (Content Delivery Networks) exchange Internet traffic between their networks.

Tier 1 ISP handles the connectivity between 2 or more countries and they are the ultimate reasons we are accessing the internet today.

Anyhow if the submarine cable gets cut or damaged by any reason (common reasons are shark attack and anchor drops), we can lose partial or complete connectivity that depends on the availability of other Tier 1 ISPs.

Network

In India, we have following telecommunication companies which are tier 1 ISPs.

No.Tier 1 ISPLanding StationsCables
1Tata CommunicationsChennai (1), Cochin (1), Mumbai (3).7
2Bharti AirtelChennai (2), Mumbai (1).5
3Reliance Jio Infocomm LimitedChennai (1), Mumbai (1).
India Asia Xpress (IAX).
India Europe Xpress (IEX).
3
4Global Cloud ExchangeMumbai (1), Trivandrum (1).3
5VodafoneMumbai (1).1
6Sify TechnologiesMumbai (1).1
7BSNLTuticorin (1).2
8IOXPuducherry (1) under construction.1
This information is subject to change with the addition and subtraction of new data.

Whoever wants to connect with them (mostly data centers and tier 2 ISPs) can buy bandwidth from them. Many data centers also have a direct connection or peering with them to decrease their worldwide latencies.

In India, we have NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India), a non-profit company incorporated under Section 25 of the India Companies Act, 1956 with the objective of facilitating improved internet services in the country.

The main job of NIXI is to facilitate the exchange of domestic internet traffic between the peering networks, content players, and any other organizations with their own AS (Autonomous System) number by enabling more efficient use of international bandwidth, saving foreign exchange, and also improves the Quality of Services (QoS) for Internet users by avoiding multiple international hops and thus reducing latency.

It means if you are accessing a locally hosted site then your network request will never leave India, instead, it will route your request to the shortest found way inside India from various available networks in India. This saves cost and time.

So this is everything about tier 1 ISPs in India.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Responses

  1. Rijhu Sinha Avatar
    Rijhu Sinha

    Hello Atul sir,

    An excellent post. Thanks Atul sir for your research and sharing this useful piece of information with us.

    I really liked and appreciate the way you have explained these thing making the concept of Internet Service Provider connectivity so clear.

    After going through this article I have learned something very informative and I am pretty much sure this article will definitely be very useful for many of us.

    Thanks for sharing and Keep writing more similar and informative posts.

    Thanks & Regards,
    -Rijhu.

  2. Sattwik Mishra Avatar
    Sattwik Mishra

    Hello Sir, great post, but there are certain terms which a layman won’t get directly, so it would be better if you simplify them a little or just briefly explain them along side. That’ll make this post way better. Nevertheless, this is one of the best posts I have read.

    1. AtulHost Avatar

      Thanks for the feedback Sattwik, I can understand that some terms would be jargon for a layman, but I’ll try my best to explain them in upcoming updates.

  3. Kiran Sutar Avatar
    Kiran Sutar

    An excellent post. Thanks Atul sir for your research and sharing this useful piece of information with us.

  4. Arjun Avatar
    Arjun

    Excellent article. Thanks for sharing this insightful and informational content with us.

    1. AtulHost Avatar

      Welcome Arjun. Keep visiting us for latest information.

  5. Naresh Avatar
    Naresh

    Nice info bro, keep this good work.