Telstra’s fibre optic network has successfully reached 1 terabit per second (Tbps) following trials by Ericsson.
The trial was tested over a 965km fibre link between Sydney and Melbourne.
“We are currently upgrading our optical transmission networks with Ericsson's next generation 100Gbps technology and this trial demonstrates that the higher 1Tbps speeds are possible,” David Robertson, Telstra director transport and routing engineering, said in a statement.
“The trial has proven that our existing optical cable plant can support Tbps channels along with 40Gbps [gigabit per second] and 100Gbps channels simultaneously on the same fibre, verifying that we have the ability to increase capacity on our existing fibre cables when required.”
Alessandro Pane, head of Ericsson R&D optical transmission, said Telstra is a key account for the company and recently supplied the telco with the SPO 1400, a packet optical transport platform for MHL 3000 and long-haul applications with 100Gbps service support.
The test by Ericsson was carried out on a 1Tbps line card in the MHL 3000.
“Like so many developed countries, Australia is a very technologically advanced market and Australians are sophisticated users of broadband and mobile technology. In addition, there is widespread smart phone, tablet, IPTV and HDTV take-up,” Pane said.
“Supporting all these services requires an ever-growing capacity in backhaul and inter-city transmission.”
In January NEC and fibre developer Corning announced they had achieved “record-breaking results in transmission capacity over optical fibers”, reaching 1.05 petabits per second over multi-core fibre.
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