Eduqas A-Level Geography A110QS
Coastal LandscapesLandscape
Glaciated LandscapesLandscape
Changing Places
Water and Carbon Cycles
Global Migration
Global Governance of the Oceans
Tectonic Hazards
EcosystemsContemporary theme
Economic Growth and Challenge: IndiaContemporary theme
Economic Growth and Challenge: ChinaContemporary theme
Development in an African ContextContemporary theme
Energy Challenges and DilemmasContemporary theme
Weather and ClimateContemporary theme
Geographical Skills
Global Governance of the Oceans
Seafloor data cables: growth, patterns and uses
- 3 things to know
- Component 2
Overview
The cables that carry almost all intercontinental internet traffic: where they run, who lays and owns them, and why a physical line on the ocean floor still beats satellite for capacity.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
How many submarine cable systems are in service?
When was a transatlantic telegraph cable first laid successfully?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What share of international data travels by submarine cable?
Model answer
Around 99% of international data traffic travels through submarine cables. Satellites carry only a small remainder.
- 2
How many submarine cable systems are in service?
Model answer
Roughly 550 to 600 submarine cable systems are in service worldwide. Together they run to about 1.4 million km.
- 3
When was a transatlantic telegraph cable first laid successfully?
Model answer
A working transatlantic telegraph cable was completed in 1866 by the ship Great Eastern. Messages between Britain and North America fell from days to minutes.
- 4
What was TAT-1?
Model answer
TAT-1 was the first transatlantic telephone cable, opened in 1956. The system carried only 36 simultaneous calls.
- 5
When did fibre-optic cable first cross the Atlantic?
Model answer
TAT-8, the first fibre-optic transatlantic cable, entered service in 1988. Capacity rose by orders of magnitude over the copper systems it replaced.
- 6
Why are cables preferred to satellites for carrying data?
Model answer
Fibre carries far more data at far lower cost for each bit. Latency is also much lower than on a geostationary satellite link.
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