Communication · 1988
TAT-8 fiber cable
The first transatlantic fiber-optic cable carries 40,000 calls at once.
TAT-8, in service from December 1988, carried about 280 Mbit/s over fiber pairs between the US, Britain and France. It began the submarine fiber network that now carries almost all intercontinental internet traffic.
What it built on 2
Related measurements
The dashed line marks when it first worked.
Fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people Latest: 20.1 per 100 people (2025) Source: Our World in Data
Share of people online Latest: 73.6 % (2025) Source: Our World in Data