Editing Internet backbone (section)

==Regional backbone==

===Egypt===
During the [[2011 Egyptian revolution]], the government of [[Egypt]] shut down the four major ISPs on January&nbsp;27,&nbsp;2011 at approximately 5:20&nbsp;p.m.&nbsp;EST.<ref name=wired>{{cite magazine|last=Singel|first=Ryan|title=Egypt Shut Down Its Net With a Series of Phone Calls|url=https://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/egypt-isp-shutdown/|magazine=Wired|access-date=30 April 2011|date=28 January 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501183804/http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/egypt-isp-shutdown|archive-date=1 May 2011}}</ref> The networks had not been physically interrupted, as the Internet transit traffic through Egypt was unaffected. Instead, the government shut down the [[Border Gateway Protocol]]&nbsp;(BGP) sessions announcing local routes. BGP is responsible for routing traffic between ISPs.<ref>{{cite web|last=Van Beijnum|first=Iljitsch|title=How Egypt did (and your government could) shut down the Internet|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/how-egypt-or-how-your-government-could-shut-down-the-internet.ars|website=Ars Technica|date=30 January 2011 |access-date=30 April 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426155523/http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/how-egypt-or-how-your-government-could-shut-down-the-internet.ars|archive-date=26 April 2011}}</ref>

Only one of Egypt's ISPs was allowed to continue operations. The ISP Noor Group provided connectivity only to Egypt's stock exchange as well as some government ministries.<ref name=wired /> Other ISPs started to offer free dial-up Internet access in other countries.<ref>{{cite web|last=Murphy|first=Kevin|title=DNS not to blame for Egypt blackout|date=28 January 2011 |url=http://domainincite.com/dns-not-to-blame-for-egypt-blackout/|publisher=Domain Incite|access-date=30 April 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404013457/http://domainincite.com/dns-not-to-blame-for-egypt-blackout/|archive-date=4 April 2011}}</ref>

===Europe===
[[Europe]] is a major contributor to the growth of the international backbone as well as a contributor to the growth of Internet bandwidth. In 2003, Europe was credited with 82 percent of the world's international cross-border bandwidth.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Global Internet backbone back up to speed for 2003 after dramatic slow down in 2002|journal=TechTrends|year=2003|volume=47|issue=5|pages=47}}</ref> The company [[Level&nbsp;3 Communications]] began to launch a line of dedicated Internet access and [[virtual private network]] services in 2011, giving large companies direct access to the tier&nbsp;3 backbone. Connecting companies directly to the backbone will provide enterprises faster Internet service which meets a large market demand.<ref>{{cite news|title=Europe - Level 3 launches DIA, VPN service portfolios in Europe|newspaper=Europe Intelligence Wire|date=28 January 2011}}</ref>

===Caucasus===
Certain countries around the [[Caucasus]] have very simple backbone networks. In 2011, a 75-year-old woman in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] pierced a [[Optical fiber|fiber backbone]] line with a shovel and left the neighboring country of [[Armenia]] without Internet access for 12 hours.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lomsadze|first=Giorgi|title=A Shovel Cuts Off Armenia's Internet|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704630004576249013084603344|access-date=16 April 2011|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=8 April 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141225063937/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704630004576249013084603344|archive-date=25 December 2014}}</ref>  The country has since made major developments to the fiber backbone infrastructure, but progress is slow due to lack of government funding. {{Citation needed|reason=The source that is linked above does not have information on subsequent infrastructure updates|date=March 2025}}

===Japan===
[[Japan]]'s internet backbone requires a high degree of efficiency to support high demand for the Internet and technology in general. Japan had over 86&nbsp;million Internet users in 2009, and was projected to climb to nearly 91&nbsp;million Internet users by&nbsp;2015. Since Japan has a demand for fiber to the home, Japan is looking into tapping a [[Fiber-optic communication|fiber-optic]] backbone line of [[Nippon Telegraph and Telephone]]&nbsp;(NTT), a domestic backbone carrier, in order to deliver this service at cheaper prices.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Japan telecommunications report - Q2 2011|journal=Japan Telecommunications Report|year=2011|issue=1}}</ref>

=== China ===
In some instances, the companies that own certain sections of the Internet backbone's physical infrastructure depend on competition in order to keep the Internet market profitable. This can be seen most prominently in [[China]]. Since [[China Telecommunications Corporation|China Telecom]] and [[China Unicom]] have acted as the sole Internet service providers to China for some time, smaller companies cannot compete with them in negotiating the interconnection settlement prices that keep the Internet market profitable in China. This imposition of discriminatory pricing by the large companies then results in market inefficiencies and stagnation, and ultimately affects the efficiency of the Internet backbone networks that service the nation.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Li|first1=Meijuan|last2=Zhu|first2=Yajie|date=2018|title=Research on the problems of interconnection settlement in China's Internet backbone network|journal=Procedia Computer Science|volume=131|pages=153–157|doi=10.1016/j.procs.2018.04.198|doi-access=free}}</ref>