TAT-6

TAT-6 was the sixth transatlantic telephone cable. It was in operation from 1976 to 1994, initially carrying 4,800 telephone circuits (simultaneous calls) between South Kingstown, Rhode Island (United States) and Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez, Vendée, (France).^[1]

Known as the SG coaxial cable system, designed by Bell Labs, the cable is 3,396 nautical miles (6,300 km) with repeater spacing of 5.1 nautical miles (9 km). The deep sea portion, some 3,000 nautical miles (5,600 km) in length, was laid by the Cable Ship LONG LINES, owned by AT&T. Portions of the shore sections were laid by the French Cable Ship 'Vercors'.

The SG Undersea Cable System was designed by Bell Laboratories at their Allentown, PA, Greensboro, NC, Holmdel, NJ, and Whippany, NJ facilities.^[2]

The US cable station was located at Green Hill, RI, while the French cable terminal at St. Hilaire, France.

A few years later, TAT-7 was put into service between Tuckerton, New Jersey, and Lands End, England, and was the last analog Transatlantic undersea system.

The following system, TAT-8, was implemented by AT&T (with Bell Laboratories), STC (with British Telecom), and Alcatel (with France Telecom). This was the first Transatlantic fiber-optic system, had greatly increased capacity and performance.

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