DALLAS, Jan. 8 -- Alcatel said it has achieved a first in optical networks: transmission of 125 wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) channels of data at an effective rate of 40 Gbit/s per channel. This performance represents a total capacity of 5 Tbit/s over 1,500 kilometers of Alcatel TeraLight Ultra optical fiber, the company said. The total throughput would enable the simultaneous transport of 80 million voice calls, or more than 500,000 high-bit-rate DSL Internet lines per second, over a single optical fiber. The company said this rate was achieved with its dual-stage hybrid erbium/Raman amplifiers, 40 Gbit/s WDM systems, forward error-correction technology and TeraLight ultraoptical fiber optimized for high-speed, long haul and ultralong-haul transmission.