Telstra Achieves World First Speeds and Distances Using Ciena and Ericsson

Telstra has announced a successful world first milestone, achieving 1.6Tb/s through a single optical channel over 700km with Ericsson using Ciena's WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e).

This trial was conducted alongside live traffic services across the central Telstra InfraCo fibre route between Melbourne and Canberra, which is one of the highest capacity routes in Australia.

This industry-first achievement was made possible with Ciena’s WL6e, which leverages the industry’s most advanced 3nm silicon technology, doubling Telstra’s existing fibre wavelength capacity from 800Gb/s to 1.6Tb/s. With WL6e, Telstra will enhance its service offering to support 800G connectivity across long haul infrastructure, including integrating it as part of the Telstra InfraCo intercity fibre network.

“This critical technology will allow us to further future proof our networks by investing in technology to benefit our customers and enabling us to keep up with the data demands of Australians,” said Sanjay Nayak, Telstra Fixed Engineering Executive.

“To put this trial into perspective 1.6Tb/s of bandwidth through a single wavelength is the same bandwidth as over 300,000 Netflix HDs streams going at the same time. Or you can download 17PB in a day which is more than 5 billion songs or over 12 billion photos. It is a 100 per cent increase per channel capacity and a 14.3 percent increase in capacity per system,” said Nayak.

This trial is over 200km longer than the previous record for highest capacity on a single wavelength.

Matt Vesperman, Regional Managing Director, Ciena Asia Pacific said, “This successful milestone with Telstra and Ericsson, transmitting more data, faster than ever, over a greater distance, is a strong indicator of our ability to significantly improve network performance efficiency and scale. Once fully deployed, WaveLogic 6 Extreme will help put Telstra at the forefront of bringing a more connected future to Australians and its customers globally.”

Emilio Romeo, Head of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand says, "This achievement with Telstra and Ciena is a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation in optical networking technology. By leveraging Ciena’s advanced 3nm chipset technology, we've successfully doubled the capacity of Telstra’s wavelengths, paving the way for more robust, high-capacity networks to support the ever-growing data demands. This milestone is not only a significant step forward for Telstra but also a glimpse into the future of telecommunications globally, as we continue to push the boundaries of what's possible in network performance and scalability."

The trial was completed on Telstra’s production network, utilising its InfraCo central route between the Lonsdale Exchange in Victoria and Barton Exchange in the ACT.