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January 18, 2026, 11:14 PM EST. Researchers from Aston University in the UK and Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) achieved a world-record 430 Tbps over standard telecom optical fibre. The feat, a step beyond their prior 402 Tbps milestone, used widely deployed single-mode fibre while requiring about 20% less total transmission bandwidth. By exploiting wavelengths below the traditional cutoff and transmitting data in multiple modes in parallel, the team preserved compatibility with existing systems. In this run, three-mode transmission occurred in the O-band while the fundamental mode operated in the ESCL bands. The work, presented at the 51st European Conference on Optical Communication in Denmark, points to untapped capacity in standard fibres.