Japan has just redefined the meaning of “high-speed internet.” Researchers at Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) have achieved a mind-blowing download speed of 1.02 petabits per second, making it the fastest internet ever recorded on Earth.
To grasp the magnitude: that’s fast enough to download the entire Netflix library in just one second, or the complete English Wikipedia 10,000 times over in that same span. For comparison, Japan’s new internet speed is estimated to be 16 million times faster than India’s average speed (63.55 Mbps) and 3.5 million times faster than the U.S. average.
The feat was accomplished by the Photonic Network Laboratory at NICT in partnership with Sumitomo Electric and European collaborators. They used a groundbreaking 19-core optical fiber cable that is the same diameter (0.125 mm) as conventional internet cables, meaning it could potentially run on existing infrastructure.
Signals were transmitted across 1,808 kilometers using 19 loops of fiber, each 86.1 km long. These loops carried 180 separate data streams, making the achievement not just about speed, but about sustainability and long-distance transmission.
What’s more impressive? The team sent data at 1.86 exabits per second × kilometers, a world record for volume and range — proving the technology is not only fast but also scalable for real-world usage.
With this, Japan not only takes the lead in internet speed but also offers a glimpse into the future of global data transmission.
FAQs
Q1: Can Japan’s record-breaking internet speed be made available for public use soon?
A: Not immediately. This breakthrough is currently a research demonstration, but since it uses fiber the same size as existing cables, it has strong potential for future real-world adoption.
Q2: How fast is 1.02 petabits per second in practical terms?
A: It’s fast enough to download the entire Netflix library or 10,000 copies of English Wikipedia in a single second. You could also transfer thousands of full-length 8K videos in an instant.
