... at the major NAPs.”53 The list ofnational backbones includes the top-tier backbones that only peer with other backbones, as wellas other smaller national backbones that peer with some backbones ... not pay the other carrier for terminating this traffic. In a settlement arrangement, on the other hand, the carrier on which the traffic originates pays the other carrier to terminate the traffic. ... larger, customers than the other, another may reach intoEurope or Asia, and so forth. The question then becomes, how the backbones weigh onevariable against another. Given the complexity of such...