Quantum Internet Backbone Beijing-Shanghai Line Officially Enters Service: Secure Communications Enter QKD Era

Quantum Internet Backbone Beijing-Shanghai Line Officially Enters Service

On February 12, 2028, China Telecom and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) jointly announced in Beijing the official commercial launch of the approximately 2,000km Beijing-Shanghai quantum internet backbone. This is the world's first cross-city commercial Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) backbone network, providing theoretically unbreakable encrypted communication for financial, government, and defense clients.

"The commercialization of the Beijing-Shanghai quantum trunk marks China's entry into the global forefront of quantum communication infrastructure," said China Telecom Chairman Ke Ruiwen at the launch ceremony.

Technical Architecture

The Beijing-Shanghai quantum backbone uses a "trusted relay" architecture with 32 QKD nodes deployed along the route, spaced 60-80km apart, transmitting quantum keys via dedicated optical fiber. Due to the no-cloning theorem of quantum mechanics, any eavesdropping attempt is immediately detectable.

"The security of QKD doesn't rely on computational complexity assumptions — it's based on the laws of physics," explained CAS quantum information laboratory director Pan Jianwei. "Even mature quantum computers cannot crack quantum-encrypted communications."

Performance Metrics

The backbone generates keys at approximately 50 kilobits per second, supporting about 10,000 simultaneous encrypted calls. Keys update once per second, meeting financial transaction real-time requirements. End-to-end latency is approximately 20 milliseconds, comparable to traditional dedicated lines.

Commercial Model

China Telecom offers three tiers of quantum-secure communication services: Basic (QKD + traditional encryption, 50,000 yuan/month), Standard (QKD + quantum random number generation, 120,000 yuan/month), and Flagship (end-to-end quantum encryption + key custody, 300,000 yuan/month).

Initial clients include ICBC, State Grid, and the Ministry of Public Security.

International Competition

The US Department of Energy launched the Chicago-New York quantum backbone project in 2027, expected to complete in 2029. The EU's EuroQCI initiative targets pan-European quantum communication infrastructure by 2030.

However, technical approach disagreements persist. China's backbone uses trusted relays, while the US and EU favor quantum repeaters — technology that doesn't require trusting intermediate nodes but is less mature.

Security Questions

Some cryptographers have questioned QKD's practical security. ETH Zurich professor Ueli Maurer noted: "QKD's security is theoretically perfect, but real-device side-channel attack risks cannot be ignored." The CAS team responded that the backbone deploys decoy-state protocols and measurement-device-independent QKD to counter known side-channel attacks.

China Telecom plans to extend the quantum backbone to the Greater Bay Area and Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone by end of 2028.