Skip to main content Tech Radar Pro Tech Radar Gaming Tech Radar Pro TechRadar the business technology experts Search TechRadar View Profile België (Nederlands) Deutschland North America US (English) Australasia New Zealand Expert Insights Website builders Web hosting Best website builder Best web hosting Best office chairs Best antivirus Expert Insights Recommended reading Glass out, plastic in: New fiber optic technology set to be deployed in AI data centers is both cheaper and faster Researchers transmit almost 2 million Netflix HD streams simultaneously using a single beam of infrared light Japanese tech giants are developing a broadband optical SSD for data centers Wi-Fi & Broadband Forget Starlink – this Chinese satellite internet tech is capable of 1Gbps speeds that are five times faster Accelerating live sports broadcasting to the speed of light with All-Photonics Networks (APNs) Japanese tech giant claims to offer data transmission solution 10x faster than current technologies to tackle AI speed bottleneck Unlimited cloud backup pioneer now offers high-performance 1Tbps cloud storage for an unbelievably low price Internet speeds 3.5 million times faster than US average are possible with current fiber optic cable tech - so how does 1,020,000 Gbps sound? Wayne Williams 2 July 2025 New 19-core fiber cable transmitted data at world record speeds When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Shutterstock / Pixel Embargo) Future networks could carry petabit speeds without new cable shapes Standard-diameter fiber hits new capacity-distance milestone in lab test US average internet speed is dwarfed by breakthrough optical transmission Buried under city streets, countryside roads and the deep ocean floor lie the glass threads that carry almost everything we do online. These strands, often no wider than a human hair, already move astonishing amounts of data, and now, Japanese researchers have pushed those limits even further - without changing the shape or size of the cable. A team led by Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), working with Sumitomo Electric and European collaborators, has achieved a transmission speed of 1.02 petabits per second over 1,808 kilometers. You may like Glass out, plastic in: New fiber optic technology set to be deployed in AI data centers is both cheaper and faster Researchers transmit almost 2 million Netflix HD streams simultaneously using a single beam of infrared light Japanese tech giants are developing a broadband optical SSD for data centers A new world record The test used a 19-core optical fiber with a standard cladding diameter of 0.125 mm, meaning it’s the same thickness as the single-core fibers already deployed in networks around the world. Instead of requiring entirely new infrastructure, the cable squeezes 19 separate light paths into the space typically used for one. That allows for a dramatic leap in capacity while staying compatible with existing systems. It also marks the first time a petabit-class signal has traveled more than 1,000 kilometers in a standard-sized fiber. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. The result sets a new world record for capacity-distance product at 1.86 exabits per second-kilometer. To simulate a long-distance backbone, signals were looped 21 times through 86.1 km spans of the new fiber. Amplifiers boosted the signal at every pass and were carefully tuned to work across both the C and L wavelength bands for all 19 cores. Using 180 wavelengths modulated with 16QAM, the system was able to handle huge volumes of parallel data streams. After traveling the simulated route, the signals were separated by a multi-channel receiver using MIMO digital signal processing. This avoided adding more fiber cores or expanding the cable diameter, which would have made integration with current networks harder. To put the new achievement in context, the average US broadband speed in early 2025 is around 290Mbps. The new record of 1.02 petabits per second equals 1,020,000,000 Mbps - more than 3.5 million times faster. The results were presented at OFC 2025 as a post-deadline paper, offering a glimpse at what future optical networks might look like. Although it won’t transform work or home connections overnight, the research shows how far standard fiber can still go. The team now aims to refine amplifier efficiency and signal processing to move closer to real-world deployment. With global data traffic continuing to grow, advances like this offer a way to stretch infrastructure further without the need to dig new trenches. New optical fibers with standard cladding diameter and world records achieved by NICT (Image credit: NICT) You might also like Fiber optic cables transport petabytes of data every second around the world Scientists build a silicon-less computer that use light waves New research leads the way to creating cheaper, high-density optical storage Wayne Williams Social Links Navigation Wayne Williams is a freelancer writing news for TechRadar Pro. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for 30 years. In that time he wrote for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a number of them too. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Glass out, plastic in: New fiber optic technology set to be deployed in AI data centers is both cheaper and faster Researchers transmit almost 2 million Netflix HD streams simultaneously using a single beam of infrared light Japanese tech giants are developing a broadband optical SSD for data centers Forget Starlink – this Chinese satellite internet tech is capable of 1Gbps speeds that are five times faster Accelerating live sports broadcasting to the speed of light with All-Photonics Networks (APNs) Japanese tech giant claims to offer data transmission solution 10x faster than current technologies to tackle AI speed bottleneck Latest in Pro Google has patched another urgent security flaw in Chrome - so update now or be at risk Six reasons why today’s AI infrastructure is unsustainable Insurance group Kelly Benefits says over half a million people now affected in major data breach - here's what we know This could be a great time to buy a new work PC - no-one is buying the devices makers stockpiled in anticipation of Trump tariffs Cloudflare will now block AI crawlers on your website - and even force them to pay you AT&T has a new tool to stop dangerous SIM swapping attacks - here's how it will keep you safe Latest in News NordVPN blocks 90% of phishing sites and earns AV-Comparatives certification – again Hurry! 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