Abstract

Fiber optics now play a key role in proliferation of telecommunication services and will continue to do so in the next decade. The application of fiber optics in the terrestrial market has produced an array of digital services, which in turn is stimulating the market for these services over international circuits. Digital lightwave submarine cable systems along with digital satellite systems are providing the communication links for these new services. The 1980s has seen the installation of three major undersea lightwave cable systems that connected the United States to England and France (TAT-8) and to the Far East (HAW-4 and TPC-3).^1,2

© 1990 Optical Society of America