Submarine communications cable
OverviewModern historyEarly history: telegraph and coaxial cablesImportance of submarine cablesVulnerabilities of submarine cablesEnvironmental impactSee alsoFurther reading
In the 1980s, fiber-optic cables were developed. The first transatlantic telephone cable to use optical fiber was TAT-8, which went into operation in 1988. A fiber-optic cable comprises multiple pairs of fibers. Each pair has one fiber in each direction. TAT-8 had two operational pairs and one backup pair. Except for very short lines, fiber-optic submarine cables include repeaters at regular intervals.