NTT says it will soon launch a communications network capable of handling huge volumes of data at very high speeds while using less electricity.

The next-generation network is called IOWN, which stands for "Innovative Optical and Wireless Network." It's slated to go into limited practical use in Japan from March next year.

NTT President and CEO Shimada Akira unveiled the plan to the media.

The initial phase in March will see a dedicated line service that will slash end-to-end latency to one 200ths of the current rate.

NTT President and CEO Shimada said, "It will be the first in the world to realize a network service with such a reduced latency. We hope to see a variety of introduction cases in Japan, before looking at the next phase."

The Japanese telecom giant expects the service to be used for such purposes as remote medical care employing robots.

The company aims to increase transmission capacity by 125 times from fiscal 2030. Ten-thousand full-length movies could be downloaded in the blink of an eye at such a speed.