World Internet Speed Record: 125,000 Gb per second over 1,800 kilometers

Researchers in Japan have set a new world record for internet data transfer speed, achieving a staggering performance: more than 125,000 gigabits per second (Gbps) transmitted over a distance of 1,802 kilometers, according to an announcement made at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference (OFC), held in San Francisco.

That speed is more than 4 million times faster than the average home internet speed in the United States and would theoretically allow the entire Internet Archive to be downloaded in less than four minutes, Live Science reports. The result also far surpasses the previous record, set in 2024, of "only” 50,250 Gbps.

• A revolutionary optical fiber

The success of the Japanese team, coordinated by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), is based on an innovation in optical fiber infrastructure. The new technology integrates 19 cores (optical fibers) into a single cable with a diameter of just 0.127 millimeters - practically the same size as that of current cables. What makes it special? Unlike traditional cables, where data can be lost due to variations in light between the fibers, the cores in the new cable interact uniformly with the light, reducing losses and fluctuations. Thus, the new cable not only offers 19 times greater transmission capacity, but is also compatible with current infrastructure, facilitating a faster and more efficient transition.

• The ultimate test

To validate the performance, the researchers passed the data 21 times through the transmission and reception system, totaling a distance equivalent to that between New York and Florida - 1,802 kilometers. The achievement comes after the same team achieved comparable speeds over a much shorter distance in 2023. The major challenge, experts say, is maintaining a strong signal over long distances. In the new system, the researchers were able to amplify the signal without compromising data quality, a key step toward future commercial use.

• What's next?

As global data traffic continues to grow - fueled by artificial intelligence, high-resolution video streaming, augmented reality, and autonomous vehicles - current infrastructure could quickly become obsolete. The new technology could play a key role in reconfiguring the communications networks of the future, enabling exponential increases in bandwidth without requiring the complete rebuilding of existing networks. The Japanese researchers say the next step will be to adapt the technology for commercial applications, in areas such as 6G networks, high-capacity data centers, cloud computing, and global data transmissions.

The Japanese performance not only marks a spectacular technological milestone, but also opens a window into the future of global communications, where physical and digital boundaries will become increasingly difficult to distinguish.