Fastest ever broadband speed achieved

The fastest ever broadband has passed a test in London – running at a speed fast enough to send 44 uncompressed HD films a second.

The test, which was conducted by Alcatel-Lucent and BT on a 255 mile link between the BT Tower in London and Ipswich, reached a speed of 1.4 terabits a second – the equivalent of over 1.4 million megabits.

Top-end broadband providers currently deliver speeds of up to 100 megabits a second, but the average household requires much less for everyday Internet use.

Although it may be a while before consumers are affected, the development will potentially have dramatic implications, allowing for a much greater distribution of content in future.

Alcatel-Lucent told the BBC that the demand for higher bandwidth grows by approximately 35% every year, making the need for more efficient ways to transfer data a “massively pressing issue” for ISPs – particularly with the growing popularity of online services such as Netflix, which is currently testing streams in 4K.

Analysts have already voiced concerns over the requirements of the ultra-high definition service, which is expected to require fivefold the speed that the average household is expected to demand in 2023.