Communication · 1956

TAT-1 telephone cable

The first transatlantic telephone cable carries 36 simultaneous calls.

Opened in September 1956 between Scotland and Newfoundland, TAT-1 used submerged vacuum-tube repeaters to carry 36 telephone circuits, replacing crackly radiotelephone links. It began the era of routine intercontinental voice calls.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 4

High-pressure polyethylene 1933
Vacuum tube 1904
Telephone 1876
Transatlantic telegraph cable 1858

What it led to 1

TAT-8 fiber cable 1988

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Fixed telephone lines per 100 people Latest: 9.9 per 100 people (2025) Source: Our World in Data