TAT-8: the first transatlantic fibre-optic cable is being recycled

Laid in the late 1980s, the TAT-8 transatlantic cable represented a watershed moment in telecommunications history. More than three decades after carrying the first fibre-optic data between Europe and the United States, this pioneering infrastructure is now being brought up from the deep for recycling.

Off Portugal’s coast, a chapter in the history of the internet is gradually being removed from the seabed. The MV Maasvliet, chartered by Subsea Environmental Services, is currently recovering TAT-8, widely regarded as the first transatlantic fibre-optic cable. Deployed on 14 December 1988 by AT&T, British Telecom and France Telecom, it transformed communications by replacing copper with light pulses capable of carrying far greater volumes of data.

At the time, it seemed like science fiction. From New York, writer Isaac Asimov addressed audiences gathered in Paris and London by videoconference, welcoming “an inaugural journey across the sea on a beam of light”. The symbolism was powerful: for the first time, the Atlantic was crossed by a cable designed for fibre optics. Its success came swiftly. Reaching capacity in under eighteen months, TAT-8 proved this technology’s immense potential and paved the way for the thousands of modern cables that now form the invisible backbone of the global network.

Yet this technological relic did not withstand the passage of time unscathed. Following a fault that was too costly to repair, the cable was withdrawn from service in 2002. It is now being raised to the surface.

Recovering the TAT-8 transatlantic cable

Retrieving a cable laid several kilometres below the surface is, naturally, no simple undertaking. Technicians must pinpoint every section, secure the line with grapnels and gradually haul it aboard, where it is wound manually to prevent damage to the glass fibres. Storms and heavy swells make the operation even more difficult: during this mission, the vessel has already had to alter its route because of an early cyclone season.

A strategic recycling operation

The mission also carries major strategic importance. Despite its fibre optics, this infrastructure still contains substantial amounts of high-quality copper, a metal that the International Energy Agency expects could face a shortage within the next decade. The steel will be reused, while the polyethylene sheath will be converted into recycled plastic.

Subsea cables remain vital to global data traffic

Cables carry almost all intercontinental traffic. Despite satellites becoming more prominent, they remain far behind in both capacity and reliability when it comes to large-scale data exchanges. TAT-8 is only one example: of the approximately 2 million kilometres of cables decommissioned worldwide, most still lie on the ocean floor. Recovering them makes room for new lines, ready to support an internet with an ever-growing appetite for bandwidth.