TAT-8 transatlantic cable is recovered for recycling

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 trailblazing infrastructure is now being brought up from the deep for recycling.

Off Portugal’s coast, a chapter of internet history 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 fibre-optic transatlantic cable. Installed 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.

TAT-8, the first fibre-optic transatlantic cable

At the time, it seemed like science fiction. From New York, writer Isaac Asimov spoke by videoconference to audiences gathered in Paris and London, hailing “an inaugural voyage 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 was immediate. Reaching capacity in under eighteen months, TAT-8 proved the enormous potential of the technology and paved the way for the thousands of modern cables that now form the unseen backbone of the global network.

This technological relic did not, however, endure without difficulty. Following a fault that was too expensive to repair, the cable was taken out of service in 2002. It is now being raised to the surface.

A complex recovery operation

Recovering a cable laid several kilometres below the surface is, unsurprisingly, no simple undertaking. Technicians must identify every section precisely, secure the line with grapnels, and gradually haul it on board, where it is coiled by hand to prevent damage to the glass fibres. Storms and heavy swells make the operation harder still: during this mission, the vessel has already had to alter its route because of an early cyclone season.

Strategic value and recycling

The operation also carries significant strategic importance. Despite being fibre-optic infrastructure, these cables still contain substantial amounts of high-quality copper, a metal which the International Energy Agency expects could face a potential shortage within the next decade. The steel will be reused, while the polyethylene sheath will be turned into recycled plastic.

It is worth remembering that cables carry almost all intercontinental traffic. Despite the growing role of satellites, they remain well behind cable systems in capacity and reliability for high-volume data transfers. TAT-8 is only one example: of the roughly 2 million kilometres of cables decommissioned worldwide, most still lie on the ocean floor. Recovering them makes way for new lines capable of supporting an internet with ever-increasing demand for bandwidth.