One of Canada’s top quantum companies is claiming a breakthrough in transmitting information over a fibre optic network, in a step towards using quantum tech in everyday communications.
“This is just the beginning of real-world impacts we will jointly deliver.”
Paul Terry
Vancouver-based Photonic announced today that it had successfully transmitted quantum information—encoded as qubits, which can exist in two states at once—across 30 kilometres of telecom giant Telus’s commercial fibre network. The company is levelling up its partnership with Telus, who is also an investor, to pursue quantum-safe networking projects together.
“This is just the beginning of real-world impacts we will jointly deliver,” Photonic CEO Paul Terry said in a statement.
Founded in 2016, Photonic has now raised $375 million CAD in its pursuit to develop a useful quantum computer and sell its services at scale. Terry previously told BetaKit that the company is “commercializing a new branch of physics,” by using a property of quantum physics called entanglement to network quantum computers together.
Entanglement is when two particles become linked together, even when they’re far apart, allowing information to essentially teleport from one place to another. Photonic is harnessing the properties of entanglement to perform increasingly powerful computations, and sell that to corporations.
According to Photonic and Telus, the companies have proven that Telus’s PureFibre network can reliably carry quantum information over long distances. Similar quantum teleportation was achieved by researchers at Northwestern University in 2024, when they found a way to guide particles of light through 30 kilometres of fibre optic cable. However, Photonic says it has taken this a step further by successfully transferring information to a “remote processing node.”
Think of sending a letter by mail. Previous demonstrations of quantum teleportation were like successfully delivering a letter written in disappearing ink: if delivery was successful, its content couldn’t be used, a Photonic spokesperson explained. Photonic’s transmission would be the equivalent of successfully sending a letter written in permanent ink, so the information is permanently available on the other end.
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Telecom companies are looking to future-proof their communications networks against the possible future threat of quantum hacking. Increasingly powerful quantum computers have the potential to solve the intricate mathematical problems that encrypt sensitive data, including communications.
The government is taking note, too: Canada’s 2023 National Quantum Strategy included the development of a national secure network, and the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security even put together a guide to help organizations prepare for a post-quantum world.
Telus already provides Photonic access to its fibre-optic network as part of an existing partnership, which began in 2024. The new joint agreement will allow the companies to deliver solutions such as quantum data centres and encrypted networks invulnerable to quantum hacking, the companies said. In an email to BetaKit, a Telus spokesperson said that while Photonic is its preferred Canadian partner, the company remains open to collaborating with other quantum players.
In addition to its partnership, which is set to last four years, Telus Global Ventures is a new investor in Photonic. The VC arm participated in the company’s $180-million CAD first close of its latest investment round in early January, in addition to London, UK-based climate-focused firm Planet First Partners, the Royal Bank of Canada, and Microsoft.
Photonic is part of two national programs seeking to develop a functional, fault-tolerant quantum computer: Canada’s new Quantum Champions Program—through which it can receive up to $23 million CAD through its first phase—and the US DARPA Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which offers up to $300 million USD for firms that advance to the final phase.
Feature image courtesy Photonic.