For the past two years, telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers, and others have bought and sold network capacity and services via the Arbinet Global Clearing Network.
Sellers post signs advertising excess network capacity, and interested parties can bid on the goods.
The exchange, says Stephen Sweet, director of business development at Arbinet Communications, gives telcos the flexibility to buy and sell capacity day by day, as opposed to months-long contract negotiations or reselling capacity on their own. Moreover, Arbinet handles financial statements for the transactions. We've created an online platform for carriers to buy and sell. The concept is catching on. Arbinet takes a cut on each transaction.