Japan has done it again. The country just set a world record for internet speed—1.02 petabits per second (Pbps). That’s not just fast. It’s mind-blowing.
To put it simply, this speed is 16 million times faster than the average internet speed in India, which is around 63.55 Mbps. It’s also 3.5 million times faster than the average in the US. You could download all of Netflix or English Wikipedia in just one second.
Yes, one second.
Who Did It?
The record was set by Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). They teamed up with Sumitomo Electric and some researchers from Europe.
They used a special optical fibre cable with 19 cores. Don’t worry—it’s the same size as the fibre cables already used around the world, just 0.125 mm thick. The best part? No need to dig up streets or replace everything.
How Did They Do It?
In the experiment, they sent signals through 19 loops, each about 86 km long. They repeated the loop 21 times, making the total journey 1,808 km. These signals carried 180 data streams at once.
The total amount of data sent per second per kilometre was 1.86 exabits—the highest ever.
What Can You Do With That Speed?
At 1.02 Pbps, you could:
- Download the entire Netflix library in 1 second
- Download English Wikipedia 10,000 times in 1 second
- Stream 8K video instantly with zero buffering
It’s internet on steroids.
Why It Matters
This test shows that ultra-fast internet is possible using current fibre infrastructure. No expensive changes needed. It could help the world meet rising demand from video streaming, cloud storage, and AI tools.
India, for example, struggles with patchy internet, especially in rural areas. If Japan’s model goes global, it could bring massive change.
NICT hasn’t said when this tech will go public.
