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quantum technologies will provide. They feel that the resource speaks to the ‘growing need for the quantum community to tell its own story’. The Quantum City For future communications, experts created two types of quantum communications: up to 140km using existing fibre optic networks (in UK) and up to 12,900km over satellite. In the UK, 410km has proved to be the longest communication over a quantum network with QKD – Quantum Key Distribution so far and Deutsch Telekom’s T-Labs sustained 99% fidelity transmission of polarisation-entangled photons over 30 km of commercial fibre for 17 days. The future of the fibre optic network is a quantum network and it requires specialists, experts, education and training either from or for actual telecom engineers in the near future.
Quantum Internet, Teleportation etc are being explored. In Europe there are already eight countries with National Strategies for Quantum Development, but even so, we are well behind US and China/Asia. The biggest investments in quantum in Europe so far have been made by the UK government, which in 2023 introduced a 10-year vision plan. At present, there are five quantum hubs in the UK; among them is IQN, the UK Integrated Quantum Networks Hub Welcome - The UK Integrated Quantum Networks Hub led by Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences from Heriot-Watt University from Edinburgh. This particular hub’s vision aligns with the UK Government’s national quantum strategy, which sets out an ambitious goal: by 2035, the UK will have deployed the world’s most advanced quantum network infrastructure. It is worth mentioning that there is already an online resource created by the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme and its partners, setting out the range of opportunities and societal benefits that the next generation of
To celebrate 100 years of Quantum Mechanics theory, UNESCO has declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology https://quantum2025.org/ Despite the fact that the majority of specialists working in Quantum Science today are physicists, the real question for the rest of us is what does Quantum Technologies have in store for telecoms engineers? The global quantum networking market growth is estimated to rise by 44% per year from 2024 to 2029 according to a recent report of Markets & Markets. This translates as a rise from USD $861.8 million in 2024 to USD $5,382.0 million by 2029. Awareness of Quantum Computing is low at present, but these estimates confidently demonstrate the growth potential ahead of us. The European Quantum Flagship is highlighting the eight base competencies required in the near future and one of them is Quantum Communications & Networks, where areas like Quantum Networks, Quantum Data Center,
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May 2025 Volume 47 No.2
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