loading…
China broke the record for the fastest internet connection by launching an ultra-fast service that can transfer 150 high-definition movies every second. Photo/Illustration/ABC
BEIJING – China broke the record for the fastest internet connection by launching a very fast service that can transfer 150 high-definition films every second. A 1,864 mile or 3,000 km long fiber optic cable stretches across China, connecting Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou.
This new internet network is capable of transferring 1.2 terabytes of data per second, which means very high speed, three times faster than the fastest connection in the United States (US). Just last year the US upgraded its internet backbone service, Internet2, to speeds of 400 gigabytes per second.
The network’s arrival exceeds the industry’s two-year deadline, with high-speed service targeted for 2025. Although the network was activated on July 31, 2023, it has demonstrated good performance in testing.
The internet was officially launched at a press conference Monday 13 November 2023. Tsinghua University, one of the leading academic institutions, collaborated with China Mobile, Huawei, and China Education and Research Network (CERNET) to develop the network.
Wu Jianping, Dean of Tsinghua University’s Network Research Institute, said that this backbone will provide China with advanced technology to build a faster internet. These ultra-high-speed services will become part of the core internet connection that transfers large amounts of data between different computer networks.
Jianping added that this backbone provides important technological reserves and towards the development of the next generation of the Internet globally. Networks like this are very important for the rapid growth of data-based industries and support 5G networks.
Xu Mingwei of Tsinghua University compared the network to a superfast train that replaces 10 regular lines used to carry the same amount of freight. “This single network will be cheaper and easier to manage,” he said, quoted by SINDOnews from the Daily Mail page, Thursday (16/11/2023).
For China, the most important thing is that the network only uses domestically made components and software. China has been concerned about its dependence on the US and Japan for components such as routers.
Specifically, Jianping and his team created their own superfast internet router, which is capable of handling much more data than previous models. In China, internet users face a strict censorship regime that limits access to Western news outlets and limits discussion of sensitive topics.
China’s Great Firewall prevents internet users from accessing sites such as Facebook, Google, Instagram, or Wikipedia. Likewise, ChatGPT has been banned in China for generating responses that would otherwise be censored by the Chinese Communist Party.
(wib)