Huawei and China Unicom have launched China’s first 10G broadband network in Sunan County, Hebei Province, according to reports from MoneyControl and Caliber.az. This new network uses special technology called 50G PON and delivers incredibly fast internet speeds – much quicker than what most people in China currently use.
What is 10G Broadband?
10G broadband is super-fast internet that can move data at up to 10 gigabits per second. This new network reached speeds of 9,834 Mbps for downloading and 1,008 Mbps for uploading.
To understand how fast this is: with regular broadband in China (about 83.8 Mbps), downloading a 4K movie might take 30 minutes. With this new 10G network, the same movie would download in less than 30 seconds! That’s like comparing a bicycle to a high-speed train.
China launches world’s first public 10G speeds downloading 2-hour films in SECONDS pic.twitter.com/HSKyQW9Ey4
— RT (@RT_com) April 20, 2025
How Much Faster is This New Internet?
The average internet speed in China is about 83.8 Mbps. Even in big cities like Beijing, speeds average around 143.4 Mbps. The new 10G broadband is over 100 times faster than the national average! This is like comparing a regular road to a superhighway with no traffic.
- Average China internet speed: 83.8 Mbps
- Urban areas like Beijing: Up to 143.4 Mbps
- New 10G network speed: 9,834 Mbps (almost 10,000 Mbps!)
What Makes This Technology Special?
This new network uses something called 50G PON technology. PON stands for “Passive Optical Network” – basically a special way to send internet signals through fiber optic cables. The “50G” means it can handle 50 gigabits per second of data.
Regular broadband uses older technology called GPON (which handles about 2.5 Gbps) or XGS-PON (which handles 10 Gbps). The new 50G PON is much more powerful. It’s like comparing an old country road to a modern expressway with many more lanes.
This technology uses something called PAM4 modulation, which is a fancy way of saying it can pack more information into the same fiber optic cables. Think of it like being able to fit more cars on the same road by making the lanes smarter.
What is Latency and Why Does it Matter?
Another big improvement is latency – the time it takes for data to travel from one point to another. Think of latency as the delay between when you click something and when your computer responds.
The average internet in China has a latency of about 30 milliseconds (a millisecond is 1/1000 of a second). The new network has a latency of just 3 milliseconds – that’s 10 times faster! This is like the difference between throwing a ball to someone standing far away versus someone standing right next to you.
Low latency is extremely important for things like online gaming, video calls, and new technologies like virtual reality. With 3 milliseconds latency, there’s almost no delay between your action and what happens on screen.
What Does This Mean for Regular People?
This super-fast internet will make many things much better for users:
- 8K video streaming without any buffering or waiting
- Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences that feel completely real
- Cloud computing that works as fast as if it were on your own computer
- Gaming with almost no lag or delay
- Many smart devices connected at once without slowing down
The network has been deployed in Sunan County and the Xiong’an district of Hebei province. This area is being developed as a showcase for new technologies in China.
How Does This Compare to India?
For comparison, the average fixed broadband speed in India is around 60 Mbps (as of recent data). This means China’s new network is about 160 times faster than the average Indian broadband connection! Even India’s fastest commercial connections rarely exceed 1 Gbps, making this Chinese network 10 times faster than premium Indian connections.
Why This Matters for the Future
This breakthrough shows how internet technology is rapidly advancing. The collaboration between Huawei and China Unicom demonstrates how companies can work together to create much better infrastructure.
With 50G PON technology, the network can support up to 256 different connections from a single line (called a “1:256 split ratio”). This makes it more efficient and cost-effective to deploy in cities and towns.
As more countries develop similar networks, we’ll see new types of services that weren’t possible before. Just as 4G networks enabled video streaming on phones, these ultra-fast networks will enable completely new experiences we can’t even imagine yet.
The launch of China’s first 10G broadband network marks a major step forward in internet technology. With speeds about 100 times faster than current averages and extremely low latency, this network will change how people use the internet and enable new technologies that need super-fast connections.
