Telstra and Ciena Create a New Milestone in Terrestrial Optical Networking

Telstra successfully transmitted four 400GbE client service signals on a single wavelength between Melbourne and Sydney in its live production environment operating Ciena WaveLogic 6 Extreme (WL6e), without requiring any regeneration along the route and operating within the L-band spectrum. This milestone extended the previously demonstrated 1.6 Tb/s transmission distance by approximately 50%, reaching around 1,100 kilometers, spanning one of Australia’s most heavily trafficked intercity network corridors.

Telstra Digital Infrastructure Executive Sandy Cameron stated, “This trial demonstrates that Telstra’s Aura network can unlock significantly greater capacity by expanding from the traditional C-band to the L-band spectrum. For customers, this means enhanced scalability and the ability to support the growing demand for AI, cloud, and data-intensive applications across Australia, both now and in the future.”

“This achievement elevates the standards in ground-based optical networks,” said Matt Vesperman, Vice President of Ciena Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands. “Ciena’s industry-leading coherent optical technology powers Telstra’s advanced Aura network, delivering additional capacity through L-band expansion and achieving unprecedented performance over distances previously deemed unattainable.”

To optimize the utilization of optical spectra beyond the traditional C-band, Telstra adopted Ciena’s 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS) C+L-band optical line system, combined with the WL6e. Telstra’s Aura network, serving as a high-performance fiber routing solution, provides ultra-low-loss infrastructure, making this landmark achievement possible.