{"id":205608,"date":"2026-02-24T18:35:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/the-first-great-atlantic-submarine-cable-connecting-us-to-the-internet-says-farewell-for-one-simple-reason-it-was-too-expensive-to-repair\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T18:35:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:35:31","slug":"the-first-great-atlantic-submarine-cable-connecting-us-to-the-internet-says-farewell-for-one-simple-reason-it-was-too-expensive-to-repair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/the-first-great-atlantic-submarine-cable-connecting-us-to-the-internet-says-farewell-for-one-simple-reason-it-was-too-expensive-to-repair\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Great Atlantic Submarine Cable Connecting Us to the Internet Says Farewell for One Simple Reason: It Was Too Expensive to Repair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It has been at the bottom of the sea for more than two decades, forgotten. But now, finally, the TAT-8, the first fiber optic cable that crossed the Atlantic and connected us to the Internet, is being removed from its place. And to understand the importance of this, it is worth telling its story, since perhaps the Internet would not be as we know it without this cable.<\/p>\n

The Cable That Started It All<\/h2>\n

On December 14, 1988, AT&T, British Telecom, and France Telecom developed TAT-8, the acronym for Trans-Atlantic Telephone 8. It was the eighth transoceanic cable system between Europe and the United States but the first to use optical fiber<\/a>. Before TAT-8, transatlantic cables ran on copper, with very limited capacity.<\/p>\n

With TAT-8, voices and data traveled as pulses of light through glass threads thinner than a hair. During the inaugural event, famed writer Isaac Asimov connected by video call from New York with audiences in Paris and London, celebrating “this inaugural voyage across the sea on a ray of light.”<\/p>\n

Why Was It So Important?<\/h2>\n

When TAT-8 came into operation, the Internet was still a technical concept for the general public. However, TAT-8 literally constructed the highway on which all future Internet traffic would travel. Remarkably, it reached its maximum capacity in just 18 months, prompting the need for new cables, especially with the explosion of the World Wide Web and electronic commerce. By 2001, the TAT series had expanded to 14 systems.<\/p>\n

Disconnection<\/h2>\n

In 2002, TAT-8 suffered a breakdown, and repairing it was deemed economically unfeasible. With modern, higher-capacity cables already in use, investing in the recovery of TAT-8 made little sense. It was left to languish at the bottom of the Atlantic for over two decades.<\/p>\n

Now They Are Taking It Out of the Sea<\/h2>\n

A specialist company called Subsea Environmental Services is currently recovering the cable using its vessel, MV Maasvliet. This company specializes solely in retrieving and recycling retired submarine cables. The complex operation involves dragging a flat hook across the seabed, monitoring for tension in the cable, and then hoisting it aboard, meter by meter. As the ocean floor becomes increasingly crowded, recovering old cables helps free up routes for new installations.<\/p>\n

What Happens to the Remains?<\/h2>\n

The TAT-8 is not simply discarded. Its fiber optic cables contain high-purity copper, steel, and polyethylene, all of which are recyclable materials with market value. Copper, in particular, is becoming scarce, making its recovery even more valuable. According to the International Energy Agency, copper could become increasingly hard to find within the next decade unless new sources are developed.<\/p>\n

The steel from the cable will be recycled into products like fences, while the plastic is processed in the Netherlands to create pellets for non-food packaging. Interestingly, you may soon find that your shampoo bottle is made from the remains of the first fiber optic cable to cross the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Sharks and Legends<\/h2>\n

Curiously, the TAT-8 is at the center of a long-standing legend about sharks biting Internet cables. This all began with a prior test involving a cable called Optican-1, which failed due to insulation issues. A Bell Labs engineer generated buzz by showing shark teeth purportedly removed from the damaged cable. The story spread rapidly, leading AT&T to include pages on \u201cprotection against shark bites\u201d in the TAT-8 press kit.<\/p>\n

Despite the popular belief, there has never been a definitive consensus on whether sharks actually caused cable damage. Subsequent aquarium tests failed to show clear patterns of shark behavior towards cables. Nonetheless, these discussions prompted engineers to add an additional steel layer for improved durability against abrasions and other damage.<\/p>\n

As we bid farewell to TAT-8, we cannot overlook its pivotal role in shaping global communication. The history and technological milestones it represents pave the way for the digital age we experience today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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General News – 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been at the bottom of the sea for more than two decades, forgotten. But now, finally, the TAT-8, the first fiber optic cable that crossed the Atlantic and connected us to the Internet, is being removed from its place. And to understand the importance of this, it is worth telling its story, since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":205609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36399],"tags":[11173,3595,31913,451,6813,126,6280,5087,4695,4273,7452],"class_list":["post-205608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-atlantic","tag-cable","tag-connecting","tag-expensive","tag-farewell","tag-great","tag-internet","tag-reason","tag-repair","tag-simple","tag-submarine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205610,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205608\/revisions\/205610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}