Transatlantic telephone cable
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A transatlantic telephone cable is a submarine communications cable that carries telephone traffic under the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe.
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. During this period the transatlantic telephone service was radio-based; starting in 1927 it cost £9 (or roughly $16 USD) for three minutes and handled around 2000 calls a year.
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.
Opened on September 25 1956, 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 of the recent systems have used fiber optic transmission, and a self-healing ring topology.
| Cable Name | Date(s) | Initial No. of channels | Final No. of channels | Western end | Eastern end |
| TAT-1 | 1956-1978 | 36 | 48 | Newfoundland | Scotland |
| TAT-2 | 1959-1982 | 48 | 72 | Newfoundland | France |
| TAT-3 | 1963-1986 | 138 | 276 | New Jersey | England |
| TAT-4 | 1965-1987 | 138 | 345 | New Jersey | France |
| TAT-5 | 1970-1993 | 845 | 2112 | Rhode Island | Spain |
| TAT-6 | 1976-1994 | 4,000 | 10,000 | Rhode Island | France |
| TAT-7 | 1978-1994 | 4,000 | 10,500 | New Jersey | England |
| TAT-8* | 1988-2002 | 40,000 | - | USA | France |
| TAT-9 | 1992-2004 | 80,000 | - | USA | Spain |
| TAT-10 | 1992-2003 | 2 x 565 Mbit/s | - | USA | Germany |
| TAT-11 | 1993-2003 | 2 x 565 Mbit/s | - | USA | France |
| TAT-12/13 | 1996 | 12 x 2.5 Gbit/s Transatlantic | - | USA x 2 | GB, FR |
| TAT-14 | 2000 | 64 x 10 Gbit/s Transatlantic | - | USA x 2 | GB, FR, NL, D, DK |
| CANTAT-1 | 1961-1986 | 80 | - | Newfoundland | Scotland |
| CANTAT-2 | 1974-1992 | 1,840 | - | Nova Scotia | England |
| CANTAT-3 | 1994 | 2 x 2.5 Gbit/s | Canada | Europe | |
| PTAT-1 | 1989 | 3 x 140 Mbit/s? | US-Bermuda | Ireland-UK |
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 telecom 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) | Owner |
| Gemini | 1998 | Cable and Wireless |
| Apollo | 2002 | Cable and Wireless |
| AC-1 | 1998 | Global Crossing |
| Yellow | 2000 | Level 3 |
| FLAG Atlantic | 2000 | FLAG (Fibre Optic Link around the Globe) Telecom |
| TGN Atlantic | 2001 | sold by Tyco in 2005 |
| Hibernia Atlantic | 2001 | CVC Acquisition Company |
Other Atlantic Cables
SAT-2, SAT-3/WASC/SAFE, ATLANTIS-2, COLUMBUS III.
External links
- [Submarine Cables of the World: Atlantic Region]
- [Aronsson's Telecom History Timeline]
- [Timeline of Submarine Communications Cables, 1850-2006]
- [Submarine Cable Landings Worldwide]
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