BT have announced that they have had success in running two new fibre optic network trials, along with Chinese technology company Huawei.

The first trial delivered 2 Terabits per second across a 727km live core link from Dublin to London, while the other pushed 5.6 Terabits per second through one optical fibre.

The operator says that these trials are a big step forward from its previous closed network trial which took place in October 2014 and claimed record spectral efficiency.

However, in this latest trial it is crucial that BT have been successful in applying that technology to their commercial fibre link, which can carry live customer traffic from Dublin to London.

Although the latest trial is similar to the first closed network test of two years ago, it is a vision of what we could see in the future.

The main of advantage of the upgrade would be that they will be done without the need for laying new fibre optic cables, which is a considerably cheaper method.

CEO of BT Technology and Service, Howard Watson, said that BT Labs are still at the fore of research into photonics as they have been for over 30 years.

He said it is crucial that BT’s core networks keep up with the growing demands for bandwidths that are spurred on by the high consumption of high-speed fibre broadband, 5G services and HD content.

Watson added that BT are to invest in its core and in high-speed access technology including fibre broadband in order to ensure that the company delivers the fastest possible network for its customers.

However, the operator will not be pushing the same improvements for its domestic connections as copper cables remain the primary limitation and would require much upgrading to keep pace with demand, something that shareholders would not be keen to invest in.

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