Transatlantic communications cable - wikipedia Transatlantic communications cable A transatlantic telecommunications cable is a submarine communications cable connecting one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other. In the 19th and early 20th centuries each cable was a single wire. After mid-century, coaxial cable came into use, with amplifiers. Late in the century, all used optical fiber, and most now use optical amplifiers. Contents 1 History 2 Current technology 3 TAT cable routes 4 Private cable routes 5 South Atlantic cable routes 6 See also 7 References 8 External links History When the first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid in 1858 by businessman Cyrus West Field, it operated for only three weeks ; 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. Starting in 1927, transatlantic telephone service was radio - based. TAT - 1 ( Transatlantic No. 1 ) was the first transatlantic telephone cable system. It was laid between Gallanach Bay, near Oban, Scotland and Clarenville, Newfoundland between 1955 and 1956 by the cable ship Monarch. It was inaugurated on September 25, 1956, initially carrying 36 telephone channels. In the first 24 hours of public service there were 588 London -- U.S. calls and 119 from London to Canada. The capacity of the cable was soon increased to 48 channels. Later, an additional three channels were added by use of C Carrier equipment. Time - assignment speech interpolation ( TASI ) was implemented on the TAT - 1 cable in June 1960 and effectively increased the cable 's capacity from 37 ( out of 51 available channels ) to 72 speech circuits. TAT - 1 was finally retired in 1978. Later coaxial cables, installed through the 1970s, used transistors and had higher bandwidth. The Moscow -- Washington hotline was initially connected through this system. Current technology All cables presently in service use fiber optic technology. Many cables terminate in Newfoundland and Ireland, which lie on the great circle route ( the shortest route ) from London, UK to New York City, USA. There have been a succession of newer transatlantic cable systems. All recent systems have used fiber optic transmission, and a self - healing ring topology. Late in the 20th century, communications satellites lost most of their North Atlantic telephone traffic to these low cost, high capacity, low latency cables. This advantage only increases over time as tighter cables provide higher speed -- the 2012 generation of cables drop the transatlantic latency to under 60 milliseconds, according to Hibernia Atlantic, deploying such a cable that year. Some new cables are being announced on the South Atlantic : SACS ( South Atlantic Cable System ) and SAex ( South Atlantic Express ) TAT cable routes The TAT series of cables constitute a large percentage of all North Atlantic cables. All TAT cables are joint ventures between a number of telecommunications companies, e.g. British Telecom. CANTAT cables terminate in Canada rather than in the USA. Name In service Type Initial channels Final channels Western end Eastern end TAT - 1 1956 -- 1978 Galvanic 36 51 Newfoundland Scotland TAT - 2 1959 -- 1982 Galvanic 48 72 Newfoundland France TAT - 3 1963 -- 1986 Galvanic 138 276 New Jersey England TAT - 4 1965 -- 1987 Galvanic 138 345 New Jersey France TAT - 5 1970 -- 1993 Galvanic 845 2,112 Rhode Island Spain TAT - 6 1976 -- 1994 Galvanic 4,000 10,000 Rhode Island France TAT - 7 1978 -- 1994 Galvanic 4,000 10,500 New Jersey England TAT - 8 1988 -- 2002 Fiber - optic 40,000 -- New Jersey England, France TAT - 9 1992 -- 2004 Fiber - optic 80,000 -- New Jersey, Nova Scotia Spain, France, England TAT - 10 1992 -- 2003 Fiber - optic 2 × 565 Mbit / s -- USA Germany, Netherlands TAT - 11 1993 -- 2003 Fiber - optic 2 × 565 Mbit / s -- New Jersey France TAT - 12 / 13 1996 -- 2008 Fiber - optic 12 × 2.5 Gbit / s -- USA × 2 England, France TAT - 14 2001 -- Fiber - optic 3.2 Tbit / s -- New Jersey × 2 England, France, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark CANTAT - 1 1961 -- 1986 Galvanic 80 -- Newfoundland England CANTAT - 2 1974 -- 1992 Galvanic 1,840 -- Nova Scotia England CANTAT - 3 1994 -- 2010 Fiber - optic 2 × 2.5 Gbit / s Nova Scotia Iceland, Faroe Islands, England, Denmark, Germany PTAT - 1 1989 -- 2004 Fiber - optic 3 × 140 Mbit / s ? New Jersey & Bermuda Ireland & England Private cable routes There are a number of private non-TAT cables. Cable name Ready for service Cable length ( km ) Nominal capacity Latency ( ms ) Landing points Owner Gemini ( decommissioned ) May 1998 under 100 ms north : Charlestown, US - RI ; Oxwich Bay, GB - WLS ; south : Manasquan, US - NJ ; Porthcurno, GB - ENG Vodafone ( originally Cable & Wireless ) AC - 1 May 1998 14,301 km 120 Gbit / s 65 ms Brookhaven, US - NY ; Whitesands Bay, GB - ENG ; Beverwijk, NL - NH ; Sylt, DE-SH Level 3 Communications ( originally Global Crossing ) Columbus III December 1999 9,833 km Hollywood, US - FL ; Ponta Delgada ( Azores ), PT ; Carcavelos, PT ; Conil de la Frontera, ES - AN ; Mazara del Vallo ( Sicily ), IT various telecom operators Yellow / AC - 2 September 2000 7,001 km 640 Gbit / s under 100 ms Bellport, US - NY ; Bude, GB - ENG Level 3 Communications Hibernia Atlantic April 2001 12,200 km 320 Gbit / s, upgraded to 10.16 Tbit / s 59 ms Lynn, US - MA ; Herring Cove, CA - NS ; Dublin, IE - L ; Southport, GB - ENG ; Coleraine, GB - NIR GTT Communications, Inc. ( originally Hibernia Networks ) FLAG Atlantic June 2001 14,500 km under 100 ms Island Park, US - NY ; Plerin, FR - BRE ; Skewjack, GB - ENG ; Northport, US - NY Global Cloud Xchange ( Reliance Communications ) Tata TGN - Atlantic June 2001 13,000 km 5.1 Tbit / s under 100 ms Wall Township, US - NJ ; Highbridge, GB - ENG Sold by Tyco to Tata Communications in 2005 Apollo February 2003 13,000 km 3.2 Tbit / s under 100 ms Manasquan, New Jersey, US - NJ ; Lannion, FR - BRE ; Bude, GB - ENG ; Shirley, US - NY Vodafone ( originally Cable & Wireless ) Greenland Connect March 2009 4,780 km Milton, CA - NL ; Aasiaat, GL - QA ; Sisimiut, GL - QE ; Maniitsoq, GL - QE ; Nuuk, GL - SM ; Qaqortoq, GL - KU ; Landeyjar, IS TELE Greenland Hibernia Express September 2015 4,600 km Halifax, CA - NS ; Cork, IE - M ; Brean, GB - ENG GTT Communications, Inc. ( originally Hibernia Networks ) AEConnect January 2016 5,522 km 4 × 10 Tbit / s ( four strand 100 × 100 Gbit / s ) 54 ms Shirley, US - NY ; Killala, IE - C Aqua Comms MAREA February 2018 6,600 km 160 Tbit / s Virginia Beach, US - VA ; Bilbao, ES - PV Facebook ( 25 % ), Microsoft ( 25 % ), Telefónica ( 50 % ) Midgardsormen Q2 2019 ( planned ) 7,848 km Virginia Beach, US - VA ; Blaabjerg, DK ; Mo i Rana, NO Midgardsormen South Atlantic cable routes Cable name Ready for service Length Landing points Owner Atlantis - 2 February 2000 8,500 km Carcavelos, PT ; El Médano, ES - CN ; Praia, CV ; Dakar, SN ; Fortaleza, BR - CE ; Las Toninas, AR - B various telecom operators EulaLink Q1 2018 5,900 km Sines, PT ; Fortaleza, BR - CE ; Santos, BR - SP Telebras, IslaLink SAex Q2 2018 13,050 km Virginia Beach, US - VA ; Jamestown, SH - HL ; Yzerfontein, ZA - WC ; Mtunzini, ZA - NL SAEx International Ltd. ( SimplCom South Africa ) SACS Q3 2018 6,165 km Fortaleza, BR - CE ; Luanda, AO Angola Cables SAIL Q4 2018 5,900 km Fortaleza, BR - CE ; Kribi, CM Camtel, China Unicom See also Cable layer List of international submarine communications cables References Jump up ^ Guarnieri, M. ( March 2014 ). `` The Conquest of the Atlantic ''. IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine. 8 ( 1 ) : 53 -- 55 / 67. doi : 10.1109 / MIE. 2014.2299492. ( subscription required ) Jump up ^ Short - Wave System for Transatlantic Telephony, by Polkinghorn and Schlaack BSTJ, 1935 Jump up ^ `` Being First Telephone Cable to Connect Hemispheres '' Popular Mechanics, March 1954, p. 114. Jump up ^ `` Building Networks for High - Speed Stock Trading - WSJ.com ''. Online.wsj.com. October 9, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2013. ^ Jump up to : `` The $300 m cable that will save traders milliseconds ''. The Daily Telegraph. London. September 11, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Angola Cables to build the world 's first submarine cable across the South Atlantic : Press Releases - NEC ''. Jump up ^ `` 16Tbit / s SAEx cable deal signed ''. Jump up ^ `` Hibernia Offers Cross-Atlantic 40G ''. Light Reading. August 13, 2009. Jump up ^ `` Submarine Cable Actions Taken PN ''. FCC. October 4, 2012. External links Hayes, Jeremiah ( September 2008 ). `` A history of transatlantic cables ''. IEEE Communications. 46 ( 9 ) : 42 -- 48. doi : 10.1109 / MCOM. 2008.4623705. Aronsson 's Telecom History Timeline Timeline of Submarine Communications Cables, 1850 -- 2016 Submarine Cable Landings Worldwide Transatlantic communications cables TAT series TAT - 1 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 / 13 14 CANTAT - 1 PTAT - 1 Private non-TAT Gemini AC - 1 Columbus III Yellow / AC - 2 Hibernia Atlantic FLAG Atlantic TGN Atlantic Apollo Greenland Connect Hibernia Express AEConnect MAREA Midgardsormen Other SAT - 2 SAT - 3 / WASC / SAFE Atlantis - 2 EllaLink SAex SACS SAIL Telecommunications History Beacon Broadcasting Cable protection system Cable TV Communications satellite Computer network Drums Electrical telegraph Fax Heliographs Hydraulic telegraph Internet Mass media Mobile phone Optical telecommunication Optical telegraphy Pager Photophone Prepay mobile phone Radio Radiotelephone Satellite communications Semaphore Smartphone Smoke signals Telecommunications history Telautograph Telegraphy Teleprinter ( teletype ) Telephone The Telephone Cases Television Timeline of communication technology Undersea telegraph line Videoconferencing Videophone Videotelephony Whistled language Pioneers Edwin Howard Armstrong John Logie Baird Paul Baran Alexander Graham Bell Tim Berners - Lee Jagadish Chandra Bose Vint Cerf Claude Chappe Donald Davies Lee de Forest Philo Farnsworth Reginald Fessenden Elisha Gray Erna Schneider Hoover Charles K. Kao Hedy Lamarr Innocenzo Manzetti Guglielmo Marconi Antonio Meucci Radia Perlman Alexander Stepanovich Popov Johann Philipp Reis Nikola Tesla Camille Tissot Alfred Vail Charles Wheatstone Vladimir K. Zworykin Transmission media Coaxial cable Fiber - optic communication Optical fiber Free - space optical communication Molecular communication Radio waves Transmission line Network topology and switching Links Nodes Terminal node Network switching ( circuit packet ) Telephone exchange Multiplexing Space - division Frequency - division Time - division Polarization - division Orbital angular - momentum Code - division Networks ARPANET BITNET Cellular network Computer CYCLADES Ethernet FidoNet Internet ISDN LAN Mobile NGN NPL network Public Switched Telephone Radio Telecommunications equipment Television Telex WAN Wireless World Wide Web Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Transatlantic_communications_cable&oldid=851954854 '' Categories : Transatlantic communications cables History of the telephone History of telecommunications in the United States History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom Hidden categories : Pages containing links to subscription - only content Use mdy dates from August 2014 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2012 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Norsk Русский Svenska Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 25 July 2018, at 17 : 23 ( UTC ). 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Question: when was the first transatlantic telephone cable service opened
Answer: September 25, 1956