Deutsche Telekom breaks fibre broadband speed record

A new fibre broadband speed record has been set in Germany after Deutsche Telekom conducted a successful experiment with a 512Gbps connection.

The European telecoms firm was able to achieve a usable bit rate of 400Gbps over a single channel of its fibre optic network between Berlin and Hanover, representing a total distance of 734 km, reports BBC News.

It more than doubled the 186Gbps record set by researchers in the US and Canada last year, with the experimental connection being fast enough to transmit the data of 77 music CDs simultaneously in a second.

Deutsche Telekom's T-Labs manager Heinrich Arnold said regular consumers could benefit from this kind of advanced fibre broadband technology soon and with relative ease.

"Improvements can be carried out without digging up the existing fibre, without massive hardware replacement - that's actually the charm of the thing," he explained.

A study highlighted by broadband provider KC this week reveals that the UK's current fastest internet speeds are enjoyed by the town of Beverley in Yorkshire, which experiences average transfer rates of around 40Mbps.