KDDI turns to Nokia for quantum-safe tech

• Japanese operator KDDI wants to protect its datacentre traffic against quantum-savvy hackers
• It has turned to Nokia for the optical and security management systems that can help

Telcos around the world are becoming more vocal about their quantum-safe networking plans and partnerships, with KDDI the latest to share its efforts with the world. 

The Japanese operator has teamed up with Nokia, one of the leading vendors in the sector, to demonstrate quantum-safe optical transport capabilities at its new Sakai Data Center, which has been designed to support advanced AI workloads, just the sort of data streams likely to be targeted by hackers seeking to harvest sensitive information that can be accessed at a later date using quantum computers.

To integrate cryptography into its datacentre network and be able to meet the evolving security requirements of its customers, KDDI is using Nokia’s 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) with C+L Band as well as the vendor’s 1830 Security Management Server to “enable high-capacity transport while ensuring data privacy, resiliency and at-speed quantum-safe encryption across KDDI’s distributed datacentres,” the partners noted in this announcement. 

Tetsuo Mukai, general manager of the access network technical division at KDDI, stated: “High levels of security and performance are essential for the communications infrastructure that underpins AI. Nokia’s optical transport solutions are a perfect fit for these requirements and were instrumental to the success of this demonstration. As AI datacentres are deployed in a distributed manner across Japan, we will continue to work closely with Nokia to advance the development of cutting-edge, quantum-safe and resilient networks that seamlessly connect these facilities.”

The results of a 2025 market perception survey of telecom professionals conducted by TelecomTV found that Nokia is recognised as one of the leading developers of technology that will enable quantum-safe networking – see IBM, Nokia top quantum-safe networking ranking.

The vendor was one of Colt’s partners, along with Adtran, in a recent “world-first transatlantic trial” of quantum-safe networking services. 

For the latest related developments, check out TelecomTV’s quantum technology channel.

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV