Altibox Carrier has demonstrated the world’s first 1.6 Tb/s single-carrier wavelength transmission on an in-service subsea cable, using Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e) coherent optics on the company’s NO-UK system.
The live 1.6 Tb/s channel ran error-free on Altibox Carrier’s production network between Norway and the UK, proving that next-generation terabit wavelengths are ready for real-world subsea operations. The connectivity milestone saw WL6e perform effortlessly at 1.6 Tb/s over an in-service submarine cable and demonstrated a spectral efficiency greater than 9 b/s/Hz.
Leveraging Ciena’s WL6e technology, the solution shows significant improvements in capacity and spectral efficiency versus prior generations, while holding stringent performance targets on a live subsea span. The result underscores Altibox Carrier’s ability to scale efficiently and sustainably as traffic surges from AI, content distribution, video, and cloud applications.
By incorporating WL6e into its roadmap, Altibox Carrier is further enhancing network scalability and intelligence.
This announcement builds on Altibox Carrier’s 800G network upgrade utilizing Ciena’s Waveserver 5 platform powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme and 6500 flexible grid open line system to connect Norway to digital hubs in Amsterdam, Brussels, London and Hamburg.
Svein Arild Ims, CEO of Altibox Carrier
The global data center market, especially in Norway, is undergoing historic expansion. This positions us to deliver higher-capacity, resilient pathways across Europe and to key international hubs
Thomas Soerensen, Vice President, Global Submarine Solutions, Ciena
Altibox Carrier and Ciena have once again joined forces to reinforce Norway’s position as a leading data center hub. This industry-first milestone and planned deployment of WaveLogic 6 will allow Altibox Carrier to efficiently scale its network and address surging bandwidth demands driven by AI, cloud and data center expansion
