The line, which spans more than 3,000km (1,860 miles) of optical fibre cabling, was activated in July and officially launched on Monday, after performing reliably and passing all operational tests.
The achievement – a collaboration between Tsinghua University, China Mobile, Huawei Technologies, and Cernet Corporation – smashes expert forecasts that 1 terabit per second ultra-high-speed networks would not emerge until around 2025.
#VantageOnFirstpost: #China is claiming that they now have the world's fastest #internet. Their new network transmits 1.2 terabits per second. That's over 1200 gigabits, per second. @Palkisu tells you more. pic.twitter.com/j4ffbvAPaf
— Firstpost (@firstpost) November 15, 2023
The new backbone network marks another advance for China, which has been concerned about its reliance on the US and Japan for routers and other components of internet technology.
All of the system’s software and hardware has been domestically produced, with the technical research team making advancements in everything from routers and switches to optical fibre connections.