High-fidelity quantum entanglement distribution in metropolitan fiber networks with co-propagating classical traffic

<jats:p> The Quantum Internet, a network of quantum-enabled infrastructure, represents the next frontier in telecommunications, promising capabilities that cannot be attained by classical counterparts. A crucial step in realizing such large-scale quantum networks is the integration of entanglement distribution within existing telecommunication infrastructure. Here, we demonstrate a real-world scalable quantum networking testbed deployed within Deutsche Telekom’s metropolitan fibers in Berlin. Using commercially available quantum devices and standard add-drop multiplexing hardware, we distributed polarization-entangled photon pairs over dynamically selectable looped fiber paths ranging from 10 m to 60 km and showed entanglement distribution over up to approximately 100 km. Quantum signals, transmitted at 1324 nm (O-band), coexist with conventional bidirectional C-band traffic without dedicated fibers or infrastructure changes. Active stabilization of the polarization enables robust long-term performance, achieving entanglement Bell-state fidelity bounds between 85% and 99% and Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt parameter <jats:italic>S</jats:italic> -values between 2.36 and 2.74 during continuous multiday operation. By achieving a high-fidelity entanglement distribution with less than 1.5% downtime, we confirm the feasibility of hybrid quantum-classical networks under real-world conditions at the metropolitan scale. These results establish deployment benchmarks and provide a practical roadmap for telecom operators to integrate quantum capabilities. </jats:p>