TRANSATLANTIC TELEPHONE CABLE

A 'transatlantic telephone cable' is a submarine communications cable that carries telephone traffic under the Atlantic Ocean.
When the first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid in 1858 by businessman Cyrus Field, it operated for only a month; subsequent attempts in 1865 and 1866 were more successful. Although a telephone cable was discussed starting in the 1920s, to be practical it needed a number of technological advances which did not arrive until the 1940s. Starting in 1927, transatlantic telephone service was radio-based.
TAT-1 (Transatlantic No. 1) was the first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system. It was laid between Gallanach Bay, near Oban, Scotland and Clarenville, Newfoundland between 1955 and 1956. It was inaugurated on September 25 1956, initially carrying 36 telephone channels. In the first 24 hours of public service there were 588 London-US calls and 119 from London to Canada. The capacity of the cable was soon increased to 48 channels. TAT-1 was finally retired in 1978.
There have been a succession of newer transatlantic cable systems. All recent systems have used fiber optic transmission, and a self-healing ring topology. Late in the 20th century, Communications satellites lost most of their North Atlantic telephone traffic to these low cost, high capacity cables.
Cable NameDate(s) in serviceTypeInitial No. of channelsFinal No. of channelsWestern endEastern end
TAT-11956-1978Galvanic3648NewfoundlandScotland
TAT-21959-1982Galvanic4872NewfoundlandFrance
TAT-31963-1986Galvanic138276New JerseyEngland
TAT-41965-1987Galvanic138345New JerseyFrance
TAT-51970-1993Galvanic8452112Rhode IslandSpain
TAT-61976-1994Galvanic4,00010,000Rhode IslandFrance
TAT-71978-1994Galvanic4,00010,500New JerseyEngland
TAT-8
1988-2002Fiber-optic40,000-USAEngland, France
TAT-91992-2004Fiber-optic80,000-USA, Nova ScotiaSpain, France, United Kingdom
TAT-101992-2003Fiber-optic2 x 565 Mbit/s-USAGermany
TAT-111993-2003Fiber-optic2 x 565 Mbit/s-USAFrance
TAT-12/131996-Fiber-optic12 x 2.5 Gbit/s-USA x 2United Kingdom, France
TAT-142000-Fiber-optic64 x 10 Gbit/s-USA x 2United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark
CANTAT-11961-1986Galvanic80-NewfoundlandScotland
CANTAT-21974-1992Galvanic1,840-Nova ScotiaEngland
CANTAT-31994-Fiber-optic2 x 2.5 Gbit/sNova ScotiaIceland, Faroe Islands, England, Denmark, Germany
PTAT-11989-2004Fiber-optic3 x 140 Mbit/s?New Jersey & BermudaIreland & United Kingdom


first fiber optic cable.
The TAT series of cables constitute a large percentage of all north Atlantic cables. All TAT cables are consortia joint ventures between a number of telecommunications companies, e.g. British Telecom. CANTAT are Transatlantic Telephone cables terminating in Canada rather than the USA.
There are a number of private non-TAT cables.
Cable name Date(s) Nominal Capacity Owner
Gemini (decommissioned) 1998   Cable & Wireless
Apollo 2002 3.2 Tbit/s Cable & Wireless
AC-1 1998 120 Gbit/s Global Crossing
Yellow/AC-2 2000   Level 3
FLAG Atlantic 2000   Reliance Communications
VSNL Transatlantic 2001 5.1 Tbit/s sold by Tyco to VSNL in 2005
Hibernia Atlantic 2001 320 Gbit/s CVC Acquisition Company


Contents
Other Atlantic cables
See also
External links

Other Atlantic cables


SAT-2, SAT-3/WASC/SAFE, ATLANTIS-2, COLUMBUS III.

See also



Transatlantic telegraph cable

External links



Aronsson's Telecom History Timeline

Timeline of Submarine Communications Cables, 1850-2006

Submarine Cable Landings Worldwide

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