Fiber for Breakfast Week 26: The Quantum Edge – Why Fiber Providers Should Pay Attention Now

Fiber for Breakfast Week 26: The Quantum Edge – Why Fiber Providers Should Pay Attention Now

Quantum networking can sound like something far off in the future, but this week’s Fiber for Breakfast made the case that the conversation is already moving closer to the networks we rely on today.  

Gary sat down with Professor Prem Kumar, Director of the Center for Photonic Communications and Computing at Northwestern University, to explore what quantum networking could mean for fiber providers. The discussion started with a familiar comparison. Just as early internet pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s could not fully predict the digital world their work would enable, today’s quantum researchers are building the foundation for applications that are still emerging.  

Kumar described this as the beginning of a “qubit revolution,” driven by rapid progress in quantum computing. But just like classical computing needed networks to scale, quantum systems will also need to be interconnected. The challenge is that quantum information behaves differently. It cannot simply be copied, measured, or routed the same way traditional data can, which makes the network layer far more complex.  

That is where fiber becomes central. One of the most important points from the conversation was that the path to quantum networking does not necessarily require a separate infrastructure build. In fact, Kumar was clear that a dedicated quantum-only network would be too costly to deploy at scale. The more practical path is coexistence: using existing and next-generation fiber networks to carry both classical and quantum signals.  

As Kumar put it, “We can’t build a new infrastructure that is dedicated to quantum, because that is going to be very, very expensive.” 

That makes recent research especially important. Kumar and his team at Northwestern have demonstrated that quantum signals can coexist alongside high-capacity classical traffic on the same fiber. In one experiment, they distributed quantum entanglement over 25 kilometers between Evanston and downtown Chicago while also carrying classical timing and communications signals. In another, they demonstrated quantum teleportation over 30 kilometers of fiber while classical traffic was present.  

For fiber providers, the implication is significant. The networks being built and upgraded today may eventually support more than traditional broadband, cloud, AI, and data center connectivity. They may also become the foundation for quantum communications, secure data exchange, distributed quantum computing, and advanced synchronization.  

The technical challenges are real. Quantum signals are fragile, and fiber loss remains one of the biggest limits on distance. That is why Kumar pointed to new fiber technologies, especially hollow core fiber, as an important part of the future. Because light travels through air inside the fiber rather than through solid glass, hollow core fiber can reduce latency and potentially lower signal loss, making it more attractive for both classical and quantum applications.  

Gary connected that point to the broader moment the industry is in. AI is already driving massive demand for fiber, data centers, and low-latency networks. Quantum may eventually become part of that same infrastructure story, with AI helping accelerate quantum progress and quantum systems later helping researchers better understand and advance AI. 

Kumar said the quantum future may be closer than many assume. When asked when quantum networking could become commercially viable, he estimated “five to 10 years,” with early applications beginning in shorter-distance environments, such as interconnecting quantum systems inside or between data centers. 

The timeline matters. Fiber providers do not need to have every answer today, but they do need to understand where the technology is heading. The lesson from the early internet era is that infrastructure decisions made before demand is fully visible can shape decades of innovation.  

The takeaway: quantum networking is not a reason to rebuild fiber networks from scratch. It is a reason to recognize that the fiber assets being deployed today may have a much larger role to play tomorrow.  

Click here to watch the full interview.  

Click here for the slides.