• The world’s first transatlantic fiber-optic cable is being ripped up after 37 years on the sea floor - TAT-8 to be removed after entering service in 1988, broke in 2002 Launched in 1988, it provided the blueprint model for every undersea internet cable that followed. • Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. • You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Subsea Environmental Services is currently hauling TAT-8, the first fiber-optic cable ever laid across the Atlantic Ocean, off the seabed near Portugal, according to a WIRED feature published this week. • Built by AT&T, British Telecom, and France Telecom, the cable entered service on December 14, 1988, and was taken out of operation in 2002 after developing a fault too expensive to repair. • It has sat on the ocean floor for more than two decades. • TAT-8 - short for Trans-Atlantic Telephone 8 - was the eighth transoceanic cable system across the Atlantic, but the first to transmit traffic using optical fibers rather than copper.
Article Summaries:
- The world’s first transatlantic fiber-optic cable is being ripped up after 37 years on the sea floor - TAT-8 to be removed after entering service in 1988, broke in 2002 Launched in 1988, it provided the blueprint model for every undersea internet cable that followed. Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Subsea Environmental Services is currently hauling TAT-8, the first fiber-optic cable ever laid across the Atlantic Ocean, off the seabed near Portugal, according to a WIRED feature published t
Sources:
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/the-worlds-first-transatlantic-fiber-optic-cable-is-being-ripped-up (Latest source article published: 2026-02-25 11:00 UTC)