NBN Co today welcomed the news that researchers in Germany have broken the world record for the fastest data transfer speed over a single fibre optic cable.

Professor Wolfgang Freude and his colleagues at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology sent data at a speed of 26 terabits per second over a distance of 50 kilometres. According to the institute this is the equivalent of simultaneously transmitting up to 400 million telephone calls or the content of 700 DVDs per second.

NBN Co's Chief Technology Officer, Gary McLaren, said:

"Tests such as this just go to show just why a fibre-enabled National Broadband Network is the best infrastructure for Australia's future. The amount of data people are transferring across communications networks, especially video transmissions, is increasing all the time. As fibre optic technology improves, so too will speeds and the amount of data that can be carried over the network we are building today. This gives us confidence that we're delivering the right communications infrastructure to sustain our nation for decades to come."

For more information on Karlsruhe's achievement visit: http://www.kit.edu/visit/pi_2011_6977.php

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