(Yicai) Oct. 8 -- China expects to achieve key breakthroughs in quantum relay technologies in the next five to six years that will support quantum communication, which encrypts information to allow the secure transmission of data, over a range of thousands of kilometers, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences told Yicai in a recent interview.

A global quantum communication service, which provides watertight security and makes data hacker-proof, should be ready in the next five to 10 years and will be really practical, said Pan Jianwei, director of CAS’ Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics.

China has already built the infrastructure for a large-scale quantum communication network and in 2016 it launched Mozi, the world’s first quantum scientific tests communication satellite. Big strides are now being made in quantum constellation technology.

Next year, China should launch two or three satellites into low orbit and this will be followed by 10,000-kilometer-class high-orbit quantum satellites in 2027, Pan said. Once the constellation is combined with the ground-based quantum communication network it will form global coverage.

The number of quantum communication users in China is growing quickly, Pan said. As of the end of last year, China Telecom had three million quantum communication users, and this year the number is set to top five million.

"China is very open to international cooperation in the quantum field and is willing to conduct more global exchanges,” Pan said. “I hope that after we launch more quantum satellites, we can have more discussions on how to set up quantum constellations with international partners and use quantum technology to benefit all mankind."

Shanghai has built China's first carrier-level quantum key distribution network for commercial use that can support no less than one million users, according to Shanghai Telecom, a subsidiary of China Telecom.

And China Telecom expects to deploy quantum metropolitan area networks in between 10 and 15 cities by the end of the year, which will eventually form a quantum communication network that integrates outer space and the earth.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor