FEATURE
AS SYSTEM CAPACITY APPEARS TO KEEP ON GROWING AND GROWING, IS IT TIME WE ASKED: ‘HOW BIG IS TOO BIG.’ BY JOHN TIBBLES
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ubsea cables have seen an explosive increase in their capacity capability and build the biggest system a sensible objective. But is that sustainable or have we reached a point where that question needs to be asked.
EARLY FIBRE OPTICS
When ‘Standard A’ earth stations stalked the earth, submarine cables were few and far between. The 30m wide
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
giant white dishes represented a true wonder of the space triggering the explosion of international voice calls drove demand in the 1970s. When the first fibre optic cable TAT8 entered service in 1989, its follow on-TAT 9 was already on the drawing board. In a few short years fibre optic systems had multiplied in the Atlantic and Pacific and a number of ‘private ‘cables had joined the traditional carrier consortium models competing on price capacity and accessibility.