Tokyo cityscape. Credit: Pincalo, Pexels
A team of Japanese researchers has smashed the world record for internet speed, achieving a jaw-dropping 1.02 petabits per second over a distance of 1,802 kilometres.
That’s roughly 4 million times faster than the average US broadband speed and enough to download the entire Internet Archive in under four minutes – phew!
The breakthrough was unveiled by scientists at Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) during the 48th Optical Fiber Communications Conference in San Francisco earlier this year.
Fibre optics breakthrough
To put things into perspective:
- Dial-up internet delivered 56 kilobits per second.
- Today’s average U.S. broadband speed is around 242 megabits per second.
- The previous record, set in 2024, stood at 50,250 gigabytes per second.
- This new record? A staggering 125,000 gigabytes per second, or 1.02 petabits, according to Popular Mechanics.
Unlike other short-range speed records, the Japanese team succeeded in transmitting this enormous volume of data over a long haul – 1,802 kilometres. That makes the achievement especially significant for future global internet infrastructure.
The researchers developed a 19-core optical fibre, compressing it into a cable just 0.127 millimetres thick. This design allows more data to travel without increasing cable size.
To simulate the distance, the data looped through a recirculating system 21 times, proving its reliability for future wide-scale application.
Why do we need faster internet?
With AI, smart grids, and the Internet of Things (IoT) booming, global data demand is exploding. According to the team’s press release, ‘the volume of data traffic is expected to increase explosively due to new communication services.’
This new development aims to future-proof the world’s internet systems, especially for long-distance, high-capacity, and scalable optical communication, which is something traditional broadband can’t handle.
While it might seem excessive for home users, experts say it’s crucial for future communication systems, where vast amounts of data will be shared between machines, cities, and devices in real time. It’s not just about streaming or downloading; it’s about keeping the modern world running.
With this achievement, Japan has once again proven itself a global tech leader.
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