China recently completed the world's first 1,000-km bidirectional real-time hollow-core fiber transmission test, marking a new breakthrough in key technologies for next-generation communication networks, according to CCTV News. Technicians said the test achieved simultaneous 64 Tb/s signal transmission in each direction over a 1,007.48-km fiber line for the first time, with a one-way transmission time of just 3.43 milliseconds over 1,000 km — a new record for real-time hollow-core fiber transmission distance.
Transmission performance jumps
In the test, hollow-core fiber showed clear advantages over traditional solid-core fiber. According to IT Home, the technology doubles the transmission capacity and extends the transmission distance by 60% compared with the best-performing solid-core fiber available today. Compared with similar hollow-core fiber transmission trials, the transmission distance is 50 times greater. Thanks to the property of transmitting signals through gas, hollow-core fiber cuts latency by 30% compared with traditional solid-core fiber.
| Metric | Hollow-core fiber test result | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Transmission capacity | Doubled | Best-performing solid-core fiber available today |
| Transmission distance | Up 60% | Best-performing solid-core fiber available today |
| Transmission distance | Up 50 times | Similar hollow-core fiber transmission trials |
| Latency | Down 30% | Traditional solid-core fiber |
In terms of transmission capacity, 64 Tb/s in each direction is equivalent to supporting the upload and download of 160 4K movies per second (at 50 GB each). The test confirmed that hollow-core fiber can deliver long-distance, high-capacity, low-latency transmission while reusing existing transmission equipment, laying a key technical foundation for building computing-power networks.
Next-generation communication network construction accelerates
The hollow-core fiber breakthrough comes as China steadily advances the construction of its next-generation communication network. According to Xinwen Lianbo, the next-generation communication network includes mobile networks such as 5G, 5G-A and 6G, as well as 10-gigabit optical networks and satellite internet, deeply integrating communication, sensing, computing and intelligence. In the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, localities are accelerating the construction of next-generation communication networks.
China has built more than 26,000 industrial 5G private networks and 1,260 5G factories, and the industrial internet now covers all 41 major industrial categories. In September, the Yimin open-pit coal mine in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, completed China's first 5G-A gigabit uplink test in an open-pit mine scenario, with nearly 100 mining trucks achieving automatic loading and unloading, automatic obstacle avoidance and automatic battery swapping, operating efficiently around the clock.
In terms of coverage, a base station in Jiagedaqi in the Greater Khingan Range has been built deep in the forest, networks in the Qinba Mountains reach into remote areas to support drone and unmanned vehicle inspections, and more than 60 base stations built on oil and gas platforms in the Bohai Sea provide full connectivity across the sea area.
Planning goals and future direction
The recently released 15th Five-Year Plan for the Information and Communication Industry proposes that by 2030, China will fully build a next-generation communication network with comprehensive coverage and leading performance, with 5G user penetration reaching 95%, the number of broadband users on 1,000 Mbps-or-higher connections reaching 320 million, and intelligent computing power reaching 98 exaflops per second, laying a solid foundation for basically modernizing the information and communication industry by 2035.
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will seize the strategic opportunity of next-generation communication network construction and advance it in a systematic way with appropriate forward-looking investment.
Looking ahead, 6G technology is accelerating from the laboratory to application. The report noted that 6G base stations and signals can not only communicate but also sense the movement of objects like radar, a technology that will also provide faster response guarantees for autonomous driving and other applications.