Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (TUD) have done something quite remarkable by demonstrating a record data transmission speed of 1.84 Pbps (Petabits per second) – or 1,840Tbps (Terabits per second) if you prefer – over a single 37-core and 7.9km long fibre optic cable. Oh.. and they could go a lot faster.

Just to put this achievement into some context, BT’s entire national UK broadband network tends to “peak” at a transfer rate of around 26Tbps, which is just a fraction of what the TUD team achieved. In fact, the “average” (not peak) internet bandwidth being used across the population of the whole world is currently estimated to be around 1Pbps (1000Tbps) today.

The key achievement here, other than the speed itself, is that this was all achieved using a single infrared laser and a single optical chip, which also has the potential to dramatically reduce the energy costs of such a system. In short, a single laser could be used to replace the job of more than 1,000 lasers, which makes this much more practical and economical to deploy in the real-world.

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Network operator Giganet has today joined forces with its recent consumer ISP acquisition of Cuckoo to announce that the newly merged pair plan to create 250 new jobs to support future growth, as well as the ongoing rollout of their own gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across England.

Giganet, which gobbled rival ISP Cuckoo last month for an undisclosed sum (here), is currently investing £250m via Fern Trading to deploy their own full fibre network to 300,000 premises across poorly served parts of Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and West Sussex (here). On top of that, both providers are also continuing to expand the availability of FTTP via the Openreach and CityFibre platforms in other parts of the country.

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Ofcom’s autumn 2022 report into fixed broadband and mobile coverage has found that “full fibre” (FTTP) now reaches 37% of the UK, while 20.2 million homes (68%) are within reach of a gigabit-capable network and 48-64% of premises can now get outdoor 5G coverage by at least one operator.

The regulator’s latest report is based on coverage and service availability information that has been received from both fixed line UK ISPs and mobile network operators as of May 2022, which is thus several months more recent than the January 2022 data in their last spring 2022 update (here).

NOTE: The Government’s original definition of “superfast broadband” is 24Mbps+, which is close to 97-98% coverage.

Since January 2022, the UK coverage of fixed “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) networks has remained largely unchanged on 96%, while some 11 million homes (37%) can now order a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) service via various networks (up from 9.6 million or 33% at the last update).

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Network operator Cityfibre has today revealed that they’ll invest £50m to deploy their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across “almost every home and business” in Kent’s (England) largest town of Maidstone. The first construction work is set to begin during January 2023.

Little is known about the operator’s rollout plan or their choice of contractor for the build, but it’s worth noting that they won’t be the only gigabit-capable network in town. Virgin Media already has strong coverage of the area, while both Openreach and Netomnia (YouFibre) are busy deploying their own full fibre in the same location. Smaller builds also exist from Hyperoptic and OFNL, while Trooli’s rollout in Loose is edging into the southern parts.

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