Editing TAT-8 (section)

{{Short description|Transatlantic communications cable}}
'''TAT-8''' was the 8th [[transatlantic communications cable]] and first transatlantic [[fiber-optic cable]], carrying 280&nbsp;Mbit/s (40,000 telephone circuits) between the [[United States]], [[United Kingdom]] and [[France]].<ref>Bray, John. Innovation and the communications revolution: from the Victorian pioneers to broadband Internet. Vol. 2. Iet, 2002.</ref><ref name=HAC>{{Cite web|url=http://atlantic-cable.com//Cables/CableTimeLine/index1951.htm|title=History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - Cable Timeline|website=atlantic-cable.com |access-date=2018-08-05}}</ref> It was constructed in 1988 by a consortium of companies led by [[AT&T Corporation]], [[Orange S.A.|France Télécom]], and [[BT Group|British Telecom]]. [[AT&T Bell Laboratories]] developed the technologies used in the cable.<ref name=HAC/> The system was made possible by opto-electric-opto regenerators acting as repeaters with advantages over the electrical repeaters of former cables. They were less costly and could be at greater spacing with less need for associated hardware and software.<ref name=ST>{{cite journal |last=Juggerst |first=Patrick |date=July 1995 |title=AT&T's Undersea Fiber-Optic Cable Systems|journal=Sea Technology |volume=36 |issue=7 |pages=29–30, 32–34 |location=Arlington, VA |publisher=Compass Publications, Inc. }}</ref> It was able to serve the three countries with a single transatlantic crossing with the use of an innovative branching unit located underwater on the [[continental shelf]] off the coast of Great Britain. The cable lands in [[Tuckerton, New Jersey]], USA, [[Widemouth Bay]], England, UK, and [[Penmarch]], France.

The system was built at an initial cost of US$335 million<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=b6iq3eIXCGgC&dq=TAT-8+cost+million&pg=PA55 Fiber Optics Weekly Update, IGI Consalting Inc, 1986]</ref> in 1988 and was retired from service in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gallery: An illustrated history of the transoceanic cable - Boing Boing Gadgets |url=https://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/04/17/gallery-an-illustrat.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423145747/https://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/04/17/gallery-an-illustrat.html |archive-date=2009-04-23 }}</ref> Capacity was reached in eighteen months despite optimistic predictions that the capacity would not be filled for a decade and some that it would never be filled and no other cables would be needed.<ref name=ST/>