The network – which can travel at about 1.2 terabits (or 1,200 gigabits) each second – is fast enough to transfer data from 150 movies in one second. The initiative results from a partnership involving China’s Tsinghua University, China Mobile, Huawei Technologies, and Cernet Corporation.

They officially launched the country’s next-generation backbone network, an education and research network funded by the Chinese government. A backbone network is a network infrastructure that moves internet traffic to different geographic locations and can support hungry data transfers from technologies such as 5G and electric vehicles.  The majority of the world’s Internet backbone networks typically operate at a speed of just 100 gigabits per second. Notably, even the United States has recently completed the shift to its fifth-generation Internet2, operating at a speed of 400 gigabits per second.

Stretching across more than 3,000 kilometers, this network connects cities like Beijing, Wuhan, and Guangzhou via an expansive optical fiber cabling infrastructure, the report said. The linkage between Beijing, Wuhan, and Guangzhou is pivotal in China’s Future Internet Technology Infrastructure, a decade-long initiative and the most recent advancement of the national China Education and Research Network (Cernet).

Trials began on July 31 and it has since passed various tests verifying that milestone, the university said in a statement. The network is operated based on China’s domestically-owned key technologies.

According to the Internet