Rakuten Mobile, Nokia Achieve 1 Tbps Single Wavelength Transmission

Rakuten Mobile, Inc. and Nokia Corporation have announced the successful completion of a pioneering trial of 1 Tbps (terabits per second) end-to-end transmission over a single wavelength on an 820km subsea and terrestrial hybrid optical line in Japan. The milestone marked the first successful 1 Tbps trial over an 820km distance in the Asia Pacific region, demonstrating capabilities to handle ultra-high-speed data transmission over significant distances.

Nokia's sixth-generation super-coherent Photonic Service Engine (PSE-6s) optics were used to transmit over a Nokia DWDM line system providing high scalability, enhanced performance and efficient spectrum-utilization on the Rakuten network.

Hiroshi Takeshita, Deputy CTO of Rakuten Mobile said, “We are delighted to achieve 1 Tbps per channel on our optical network in collaboration with our technical partner Nokia. This technical milestone enables us to optimize the utilization of fiber capacity and enhance power efficiency, and the increased capacity empowers Rakuten Mobile to meet the demands of bandwidth-intensive mobile services and high-capacity enterprise requirements. This accomplishment is in line with Rakuten Mobile’s network growth objectives.”

James Watt, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Optical Networks business at Nokia, said: "We are proud to have accomplished this remarkable 1 Tbps single wavelength transmission record in partnership with Rakuten Mobile. Our PSE-6s super-coherent optics delivers exceptional scalability, peak performance, and energy efficiency, allowing Rakuten Mobile to meet its carbon neutrality objectives and increase network capacity to meet demand for high-bandwidth 5G services and enterprise needs."

By using Nokia’s latest PSE coherent technology, Rakuten Mobile will be able to increase both spectrum efficiency and maximum capacity per fiber pair by 25% compared with the earlier generation of coherent optics deployed in its network. Rakuten Mobile will also be able to scale network capacity while helping manage network power consumption by reducing power-per-bit by 50%, against its prior generation of coherent optics.