Buying transit network (question)

[netomato]

It's lame but I want to ask that what if someone buys transit from Tata etc? And use it like their own broadband? I mean as we say excitel uses Tata's/Airtel's backbone network etc. So as far as I know it's a fiber link to their own servers or the broader internet network.

But what if I buy 10G transit from Tata to my home just as excitel does to LCO office. Will I get 10Gbps internet which I can connect to a high end switch with SFP to get 10G?

Can I myself split and sell that 10G link to others and make money off of it? Is it as simple as it is or totally different? I mean if I buy transit then I will get access to broader internet network including international servers & all just like regular internet & peering of servers will already be done by these mega ISP's?

Also approximately how much it will cost me to get a single 10G transit link from Tata or Airtel?
I'm sure guys experienced in this sector can give me approximate figures & detailed information that I don't know about yet.

 

[JB701]

i found this doc some time ago. 200Mbps Jio lease line is 10 lakhs a year

http://www.vikhepharmacynagar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/4.3.3.-Internet-connection-agreement-Bill.pdf

 

[Lolita_Magnum]

• I won't get into any nitty-gritty part but to answer your question, yes you can buy transit and resell it as an ISP but for that you'd need your own AS, a registration ISP license and of course IPs.
• An ISP won't come to you to transit, you need to go to them, i.e, the nearest data center or POP.
• Some IP transit have some SLA you need to full-fill, and you cannot use them as default route, it should always be the lowest preference.
• To answer the rest of your question, yes, yes and yes, but it is not that easy as you think it is.

So, I am in support and not sales, so I cannot say how the provisioners do their business, but pricing is usually an industry secret with everyone getting a different price based on type of consumption, but @JB701 cost are what realistically you should expect but not bandwidth speed since ILL and Transit are different and cost is based on bandwidth used and not port cost.

 

[Anurag Bhatia]

Old but interesting question.

I mean as we say excitel uses Tata's/Airtel's backbone network etc. So as far as I know it's a fiber link to their own servers or the broader internet network.

Before proceeding further it's important to point out that your post gives an impression as Excitel is simply re-selling Tata Comm or Airtel's network capacity while in reality 90% of Excitel traffic goes over peering and caching servers. Tata/Airtel component is barely 10% of their traffic. Furthermore they do have fair amount of own/rented dark fibre in the cities they operate which is used to connect the LCO PoPs and their own backhual. You cannot have 90% offload by just being at one DC, so they need to have capacity between DCs to aggregate peering traffic, they need to be at locations where they can get cheaper transit (i.e in commercial datacenters and not a home or commercial office building in those cities).

But what if I buy 10G transit from Tata to my home just as excitel does to LCO office. Will I get 10Gbps internet which I can connect to a high end switch with SFP to get 10G?

Yes, you can get 10G IP transit from Tata Comm or Airtel. Do keep in mind you can usually get it at commercial datacenter. If you ask them for 10G drop at a non-datacenter location, they would expect you to pick it up from their nearby PoPs (often towers in case of BTS) or existing MUX locations for Tata Comm. Their SLA would be valid until their drop point. Unless you are asking for multiple of 10Gs + bunch of point to point link, most of large telcos would not drop it at your location.

Can I myself split and sell that 10G link to others and make money off of it? Is it as simple as it is or totally different? I mean if I buy transit then I will get access to broader internet network including international servers & all just like regular internet & peering of servers will already be done by these mega ISP's?

Yes you can, but similar to previous replies - 10G is a lot of bandwidth. You would be consuming that sort of capacity for thousands of users and you cannot connect thousands of users by just having a single device/single location. You would need to cover significant area of your city to acquire lot's of users. That would involve expensive on last mile fibre, GPON OLTs (for passive network) or Ethernet switches for an active network, locations where you can aggregate connectivity, redundant fibre between PoPs to put them on ring etc. Beside that you would need billing systems to invoice end users, pay 8% AGR on license + get 18% GST, have accountants to manage this for you etc.


Bottom line here is that IP transit cost is overall one part of the cost of running network. Typical bandwidth pricing ratios is as: 1:3:10. If bandwidth at core/transit free network / near to content source is $1, then at middle mile it's $3 and on last mile it's $10. In order to sell bandwidth at $10, you need to have a "access network" which does that at scale.