Nokia today announced it had successfully deployed and trialed the first terabit-per-second, single-carrier data transmission.

The field trial, which took place on United Arab Emirates-based network Etisalat, successfully leveraged Nokia Bell Lab's probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS) technology to shape the signal and achieve transmission rates of 50.8 Tb/s across multiple wavelengths. According to Nokia, each wavelength carried data at 1.3 Tb/s over a 93-kilometer section of Etisalat's wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) network.

Nokia says just one terabit-per-second data stream is enough bandwidth to download the entire Game of Thrones video series in HD — all 73 episodes — in less than two seconds.

The company says the test was a big step forward for the technology, which first entered lab trials in 2015.

Nokia says the field trial demonstrates that existing networks — like Etisalat's — can support the higher optical wavelength bit rates that will be essential to supporting high-bandwidth services like 5G, fiber-to-the-home, and data center interconnect.

The company also claims the technology will enable power and space savings, ultimately reducing the cost per bit when compared to lower rate channels.

The introduction of 5G will require a network that can dynamically adjust to dramatic increases in bandwidth said Sam Bucci, head of optical networking at Nokia, in a statement.

“This ground-breaking trial with Etisalat is testimony to Nokia’s commitment to continue to invest in coherent and optical component technologies required to meet the 5G networking challenge at the lowest total cost of ownership for our customers,” he said.

Details of the field trial were published last week in a post-deadline paper at the European Conference on Optical Communication in Dublin, Ireland.