IEEE Milestone: The First Transpacific Cable System (TPC-1) in 1964

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The Transpacific Cable System No.1 “TPC-1” was the first submarine telephone cable connecting North America and Asia with a total length over 10,000km. TPC-1 became operational on 19th June 1964 with the congratulatory speeches of President Lyndon B. Johnson of U.S.A. and Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda of Japan noting the importance of the project for the U.S.A. and Japan. It has contributed to a closer relationship and to the mutual development in culture and economy between U.S.A. and Japan. TPC-1 was a US$83 Million project, which was jointly constructed by AT&T, HTC and KDD, by applying the state of the art technology (“SD” type cable system design) which was developed by Bell Laboratories of AT&T (following previous SA & SB designs).  It’s deployment was the first step in the rapid development of submarine telephone cable networks in Eastern Asia, providing large communications capacity between Eastern Asia and U.S.A./Europe. A newly established Japanese company, Ocean Cable Company (OCC), also manufactured some portions of the submarine cable under AT&T’s supervision. TPC-1 was composed of three cable networks; 1) TPC-1 connecting Japan with Hawaii via Guam, Midway and Wake, 2) HAW-1 and HAW-2 connecting Hawaii and the mainland U.S.A. and 3) Guam-Philippines Cable, a branch of TPC-1. TPC-1 was also cross connected at Hawaii with COMPAC, the British Commonwealth cable linking Canada, New Zealand and Australia. TPC-1 and COMPAC formed the Pan Pacific coaxial submarine cable network. TPC-1 began operation in June, 1964, and was followed by joining of Guam-Philippines Cable in December, 1964. Since then, TPC-1 was in operation more than a quarter century, and will achieve its 50 year anniversary in 2014.The quality of telephone circuits of the longest multi links through TPC-1, land cables on the North American Continent and submarine cables in Atlantic Ocean was proven to satisfy the CCITT (now ITU-T) voice quality recommendations the very first time. The technology developed in the SD type cable covers the implementation of cables undersea. This included machinery on board a cable ship and methodologies of cable laying and repairing, which became the standard going forward. Extremely high reliability was necessary for the repeaters due to the vacuum electron tubes contained inside, which amplify the transmission signal in tandem. The requirement of high reliability was achieved by means of the quality control developed by Bell Laboratories and proven by the system’s longevity. The quality control methodology used in SD type cable systems was succeeded by the fiber optic submarine cable systems in service today. In addition, it was necessary for TPC-1 to cross the Mariana trench and to be deployed on the complicated features of the sea floor. Ocean floor geologists from U.S.A. and Japan jointly examined the hydrographic survey data obtained by Japanese Oceanography Service and determined a safe and stable cable route in the region. This knowledge established through coordination between the academic field and the business field contributed to the planning of future trans-ocean submarine cable projects. The technology developed in TPC-1 continues to be the foundation for the construction and maintenance in current fiber optic submarine cables used for international telecommunications today. ...........................................................................................