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China has once again saved a spot to be in the headlines for its technological advancements. The latest achievement is the launch of the “world’s fastest internet network” with speeds up to 1.2 terabits per second. This means that downloading a movie is now a blink-of-an-eye affair. Meanwhile, GTA V, approx. 100GB, takes only one-and-a-half minutes to download.
China lauds the world’s fastest internet network
Huawei and China Mobile jointly launched the world’s first internet network. The tech giant and telco also partnered with Tsinghua University and Cernet.com in the process. The collaboration helped achieve a “stable and reliable” bandwidth of 1.2 terabits (1,200 gigabits per second) per second, reported Bloomberg.
The speed is several times faster than typical speeds around the world. The internet network spans 3,000 km (1,860 miles) between Beijing-Wuhan-Guangzhou. Notably, it’s a part of the ambitious FITI project.
China’s latest achievement even surpasses the recent upgrade in the US which reached about 400 gigabits per second. Comparatively, China’s ultra-high-speed internet is roughly 3 times that of the States’. It is also capable of transferring the “data equivalent to 150 HD films in just one second” said Huawei Technologies vice-president Wang Lei, reported South China Morning Post.
Tsinghua University, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s alma mater, is promoting the project as an industry-first built entirely using Chinese technology. However, Bloomberg says that it has not independently verified the claims. Huawei is credited majorly for the project, per the shared statement.
This breakthrough in internet technology refutes the notion that 1 terabit per second ultra-high-speed networks would not be available until around 2025.
This super-fast internet network is a part of the FITI project
China’s Ministry of Education launched the FITI project, Future Internet Technology Infrastructure, in April 2021. Tsinghua and 40 other universities in China jointly launched the initiative.
The ambitious FITI is a new internet testbed led by Wu Jianping, who’s played a key role in advancing internet tech in China and Asia-Pacific. It is designed to not only be faster than current networks but also to lay the foundation for even faster networks in the future.