Telecom trivia

According to NetworkWorld's 2013’s 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries, twenty five years ago "first transatlantic fiber-optic cable called TAT-8 was built by a consortium led by AT&T, France Telecom and British Telecom, the 3,148-mile cable linked North America and France at a cost of $361 million. The dedication ceremony featured science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. A trial cable tested in 1983 in waters off the Canary Islands failed to carry shark protection, which triggered shark feeding frenzies and shark electrocutions."

Incidentally, TAT-1, first transatlantic copper cable, was laid in 1955 and went from 32 6th Ave (now officially 32 Avenue of the Americas and no longer belonging to AT&T) to somewhere in London. The actual submerged portion connected Newfoundland and Scotland.