News | 05 Feb 2021

Ultrafast 100 Gigabit broadband showcased by Vodafone and Nokia

Technological breakthrough is 100 times faster than today’s broadband and could bring the Internet of Senses into our homes.

Vodafone and Nokia have demonstrateed a prototype 100Gbps (gigabits per second) broadband connection that is 100 times faster than today’s full fibre home broadband connections.

Such speeds could enable the widespread adoption of technologies such as holographic calling paired with sensations like taste and touch – the so-called Internet of Senses.

Vodafone has already demonstrated such uses cases in action separately, from the world’s first holographic call to the visceral sensation of a rugby tackle transmitted over the internet from one city to another.

100Gbps is equivalent to streaming 4,000 4K videos simultaneously, without any lag or buffering. A single 4K video stream typically requires 25Mbps (megabits per second) speeds, while augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) require around 200-300Mbps.

Engineers from Vodafone and Nokia at the former’s Eschborn lab in Germany achieved the 100Gbps ultrafast breakthrough over a single beam of light using Passive Optical Network (PON) technology.

Vodafone expects 100Gbps home broadband connections to be available by 2030, with upgrades to existing fibre networks possible without major construction works due to PON’s modular nature. PON-based connections already link key infrastructure, such as mobile masts with wired networks with Vodafone adopting 10Gbps PON links in its networks.

Today, 100Gbps speeds are typically found in transcontinental connections, such as Vodafone’s network of deep sea cables. 100Gbps speeds are also currently found in the links that connect data centres, which power online services such as streaming video services and cloud storage, to the rest of the internet.

For the full Vodafone Group press release click here.

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