HE is a major "IP transit" provider, if you're a small to medium sized ISP, they are one of your choices in the market for buying absolutely necessary transit to reach other parts of the Internet. Grossly simplified, you as a tiny ISP get your own AS, and at least a /24 of RIPE, APNIC or ARIN IP space, set up your own router, and announce your AS and IP space to HE over a BGP session with them. Usually via a singlemode fiber crossconnect from within the same carrier hotel or datacenter.

Or if you're a colo/dedicated server company you can use them as an upstream. They also sell layer 2 transport services (built over MPLS) between any two of their POPs, for ISPs that want to establish a new POP somewhere and get 10 or 100Gbps connectivity between them.

Thanks for the explanation. Not familiar with some of the terms but I think I get the overall gist.

Not a fan of LACNIC or AfriNIC?

Just using them as an example of where ISPs can obtain globally routable IP space for their own AS, also HE doesn't have so many POPs in Accra, Ghana or Panama City. Of course if you're an ISP in Ghana with a transport circuit to Telehouse Docklands, in London, and want to be an HE customer, you certainly can become one.

Most people on this site don't in the same way they don't buy servers and prop up huge margins for AWS. The funny thing is it's not hard, I have my own personal autonomous system, IPs, and routing.

You buy transit at any "on net" site they are at, and that can include static IP routing with IPs they lease you or you use BGP to announce your own IPs (from the correct regional RIR). This is "The Internet".

Thanks for the explanation.

Sorry, but

> Regional Regional Internet Registry

:P