TAT-14

{{Short description|Former transatlantic telephone cable}}

{{Infobox Submarine communications cable

| cable_name = TAT-14

| map =Map TAT-14.png

| owners ={{cite web|title=TAT-14 General Committee|url=https://www.tat-14.com/tat14/gclist.jsp|website=TAT-14 Cable System|publisher=Sprint Corporation|access-date=18 November 2017}}{{cite web|title=TAT-14|url=http://www.insworldwide.com/project/tat-14/|website=International Network Systems|access-date=18 November 2017}} {{hlist

| BT Group

| AT&T

| Deutsche Telekom

| Vodafone

| Verizon Communications

| Sprint Corporation

| KPN

| Orange S.A.

| Telia Company

| Telenor

| Etisalat

| Level 3 Communications

| OTEGlobe

| Singtel

| KDDI

| StarHub

| SoftBank Group

| Zayo Group

| Telesur

| Portugal Telecom

| Slovak Telekom

| Türk Telekom

| TDC A/S

| Tele2

| Telus

| Tata Communications

| Telefónica

| BICS

| Elisa

| CYTA

| Rostelecom

}}

| technology = Fiber optics with EDFA repeaters

| design_capacity = 9.38 Tbit/s

| current_capacity = 3.15 Tbit/s

| length = {{convert|15428|km|mi|abbr=on}}

| topology = Self-healing ring

| first_use_date = {{Start date|2001|03|21|df=y}}

| decommissioning_date = {{End date|2020|12|15|df=y}}

| landing_points =

{{unbulleted list

| {{flagicon|Denmark}} Blaabjerg, Denmark

| {{flagicon|Germany}} Norden, Germany

| {{flagicon|Netherlands}} Katwijk, Netherlands

| {{flagicon|France}} St-Valery-en-Caux, France

| {{flagicon|UK}} Widemouth Bay, UK

| {{flagicon|United States}} Tuckerton{{\}}Manasquan, New Jersey, United States

}}

}}

TAT-14 was the 14th consortium transatlantic telecommunications cable system. In operation from 2001 to 2020,{{cite web

| url = https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-20-369A1.pdf

| title = Report No. SCL-00267

| publisher = Federal Communications Commission

| date = 2020-04-02

| access-date = December 21, 2020

| quote = the TAT-14 submarine cable will be retired from service on December 15, 2020}} it used wavelength division multiplexing. The cable system was built from multiple pairs of fibres—one fibre in each pair was used for data carried in one direction and the other in the opposite direction. Although optical fibre can be used in both directions simultaneously, for reliability it is better not to require splitting equipment at the end of the individual fibre to separate transmit and receive signals—hence a fibre pair is used. TAT-14 used four pairs of fibres—two pairs as active and two as backup. Each fibre in each pair carried 16 wavelengths in one direction, and each wavelength carried up to an STM-256 (38,486,016 kbit/s as payload).{{Cite web |title=About the TAT-14 Cable Network |url=https://www.tat-14.com/tat14/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807210032/https://www.tat-14.com/tat14/ |archive-date=2020-08-07 |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=TAT-14}} The fibres were bundled into submarine cables connecting the United States and the European Union (United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark) in a ring topology.{{cite web

| url=http://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/International/Orders/1999/da992042.txt

| title=CABLE LANDING LICENSE

| date=1999-10-01

| publisher=U.S. Federal Communications Commission

| access-date=2013-08-09}}

By the time this cable went into operation, the expected long boom (term coined by Wired magazine) was already ending in the dot-com death. The overinvestment in transcontinental optical fiber capacity led to a financial crisis in private cable operators like Global Crossing.

In the diplomatic cables leak, it is revealed that the landing point in Katwijk, the Netherlands is included in a US Government list of critical infrastructure susceptible to terrorist attack.{{cite web

| url=http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/binnenland/vs-wijst-knelpunten-nederland-aan

| title=VS wijst knelpunten Nederland aan

| date=2010-12-06

| publisher=RTL Nieuws

| language=nl

| access-date=2013-08-09

| archive-date=2017-01-01

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101013425/http://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nieuws/binnenland/vs-wijst-knelpunten-nederland-aan

| url-status=dead

}}

Use of the cable was ceased on December 15, 2020, shortly after the Havfrue cable, whose main trunk also lands at Blaabjerg, was lit in November 2020.{{cite web|url=https://blog.telegeography.com/out-with-the-old-cables-in-with-the-new|title=Out With the Old Cables, in With the New|date=2020-12-21}} In 2021 the permanent dismantling of the system was begun.{{cite web|url=https://www.ien.eu/article/upcoming-dismantling-of-the-tat-14-submarine-cable-system/|title=Upcoming Dismantling of the TAT-14 Submarine Cable System|date=2021-05-11}}