The Deutsche Telekom conducted a successful test of quantum teleportation over the city internet in Berlin

Quantum teleportation is already operational in a real urban network

Deutsche Telekom and Dutch startup Qunnect have demonstrated for the first time that quantum teleportation can be performed over a commercial fiber‑optic line without altering existing infrastructure. The experiment ran on a live operator network in Berlin: the quantum signal was transmitted alongside regular internet traffic.

What was shown
* Testing on a real network – 30 km of Deutsche Telekom’s fiber.
* Quantum teleportation – not just entanglement distribution, but full transfer of a photon’s quantum state.
* Fidelity – average 90 %, peak values up to 95 %.
* Spectral coverage – photons for entanglement distribution were generated in the O‑band (≈1324 nm), while the teleported state used a wavelength of 795 nm, making the system compatible with neutral atoms and quantum computers.
* Automatic compensation – the system corrected polarization fluctuations and interference from classical traffic in the C‑band (≈1550 nm), ensuring stable operation even in an urban environment.

How it works
Qunnect provides a fully ready commercial platform, including the Carina system for entanglement distribution. This enabled a transition from laboratory experiments to field trials without needing to rebuild the network. The Deutsche Telekom team used its own fiber lines and automatic tuning to compensate for loss and interference.

What’s new compared to previous work
* In 2025 the same team already successfully transmitted a photon’s polarization state over 30 km for 17 consecutive days with 99 % accuracy.
* Now full quantum state teleportation is demonstrated, requiring more complex operations and strict synchronization.

Why it matters
Quantum teleportation is a key element of the future quantum internet: it allows secure transmission of quantum data between remote nodes, supporting distributed computing, ultra‑secure communication, and high‑precision sensing. Demonstrating it on a real network confirms the technology’s readiness for industrial deployment.

Deutsche Telekom stated: “Quantum information can now be transmitted in practice, not just in laboratory conditions.” This opens the way for telecom operators to integrate quantum services into existing networks and accelerate widespread adoption of quantum technologies.

Additional fact
Simultaneously with Berlin, a similar experiment was carried out on New York City’s urban network. There too Qunnect equipment was used, and the process organization was handled by Cisco.