Submarine cable systems-recent developments

The introduction of new technologies has led to a steady increase in the bandwidth available in cables. As the cost of a transatlantic cable has remained approximately constant across several generations of system, the cost per voice channel has been reduced dramatically. Unrepeatered systems can now span distances in excess of 300 km. This has opened up new opportunities for low cost short-haul submarine systems. These points are illustrated by consideration of the technologies which support the supply of high capacity, high reliability undersea cable systems designed for a twenty-five-year life span.<>