Sadly you fail to realise that apart from IX's, to get from one part of the internet to the other over a country/land boundary you have to use a large tier 1 provider. AT&T, Verizon, Bell South, Level3 etc are all Tier 1 providers.
Either way, >>5 is right, they won't do it just yet, since it messes up their common carrier status. Sadly where i live that kind of rule doesnt exist :(