Optus and Nokia set new speed record over critical long-haul fibre network

• Optus and Nokia set a speed record in field trial on Optus’ existing operational long-haul fibre network in a world first.
• Optus has also achieved an Asia-Pacific first in a field trial on Optus’ existing operational long-haul fibre network of one Terabit per second over 1,050Km
• Speeds would support the transfer of approximately 1.2 petabytes (PB) of data in a single day or the equivalent to backing up the entire contents of a large data centre in just one day.
• Optus and Nokia complete factory testing of long-haul systems, and can confirm support for unregenerated services between Melbourne and Perth

Following on from last year’s success of being the first telco in the Australian market to hit speeds of 800Gbps, Optus and Nokia have again pushed the innovation envelope to become the first telco in the Asia-Pacific market to conduct a successful field trial on Optus’ existing operational long-haul fibre network of one Terabit per second (Tbps) over 1,050Km (Sydney to Melbourne) and the first in the world to hit 1.1 Tbps over 405Km (Sydney to Canberra).

The demonstration showcases the success of the ongoing investment by Optus into enhancing its fibre network, which plays a decisive role in providing connectivity throughout Australia as well as connecting Australia to the rest of the world.

The critical piece of infrastructure also supports major enterprise customers with a connectivity solution that offers reliable low latency connectivity at speeds not seen previously and going forward will be integral in the advancement of innovative technology such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, automation and other technologies that rely on large amounts of data to be consumed. 

Put into perspective, the speeds Optus have hit would support the transfer of roughly 1.2 petabytes (PB) of data in a single day or the equivalent to backing up the entire contents of a large data centre in just one day.

This corresponds to a total capacity of more than 35Tbps over a single fibre pair using standard C-band transmission which is also a record on a production network.

John Castro, Vice President, Wholesale and Satellite at Optus, said, “Optus and our partners, Nokia, continue to push the edge on what is possible in the field of long-haul fibre networks. As Australians and Australian businesses continue to move towards an increasingly global digital economy, the modernisation of our terrestrial long-haul network in conjunction with our Optus subsea capabilities on Indigo will play a critical role in providing high speed and high-capacity connectivity between south-east Asia into and across Australia.

In addition to the record-breaking speeds achieved by Optus and Nokia, through factory testing of its new 400Gbps long haul system, Optus has been able to confirm unregenerated services between Melbourne and Perth, removing the need to regenerate in Adelaide. This enhancement reduces latency and cost of transmission between the East and West coast of Australia.

Castro said, “We are committed to continuing to invest in our long-haul capability as it continues to play a key role in connecting the vast country we live and work in. While advancements in mobile technology such as 5G and LEO satellites are exciting and play an important role in creating positive connections throughout our customer base, fibre continues to be a crucial area where we are still seeing cutting edge innovation play out.”      

The successful Terabit field trials spanning distances of approximately 1,050km was completed on Optus’ operational 400Gbps system, in February 2024, on the coastal route between the two capital cities Sydney and Melbourne, and again across approximately 405Km between Sydney and Canberra facilitated by leveraging the spectrum sharing capabilities of Optus’ existing long-haul network.

John Harrington, Senior Vice President of Network Infrastructure Sales, Asia Pacific at Nokia, said, “We are delighted to strengthen our ongoing partnership with Optus, as we remain committed to bringing cutting-edge technology to the market and our valued customers. The programmability of Nokia PSE-6s is well demonstrated in this collaboration, where the same hardware offers varying capacities over different distances, ensuring optimal price and power efficiency per bit in any network scenario.”

Using Nokia’s sixth generation super-coherent Photonic Service Engine (PSE-6s) alongside the Nokia 1830 Photonic Service Switch platform and current Optus channels powered by prior generation of PSE-Vs optics which support 400Gbps and 600Gbps capacity over some routes, Optus can hit transport service speeds of 1 Tbps or more. This allows Optus to add network capacity and provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity with optimal footprint, efficiently and with reduced power consumption.

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Media contact:
Sarah Wolf
Optus Corporate Affairs
02 9037 8179
media@optus.com.au