“CANTAT” CABLE

Press, Volume C, Issue 29702, 21 December 1961, Page 6

“CANTAT” CABLE

First Part Of Global Link

"The recent completion of the new trans-Atlantic cable ‘Cantat’ is just the first step of the proposal to eventually encircle the globe by a multichannel telephone cable linking all the countries of the Commonwealth.” said the regional engineer of the Post Office. Mr L. D. Bewley, yesterday. The cable was inaugurated by the Queen on Tuesday It is the first tran'itlantic cable entirely made and owned by Commonwealth countries. It cost £9.000.000 and is the first section of a worldwide Commonwealth t lephone link planned to join all Commonwealth nations in direct communication bv 1964 “This Cantat section of the cable is capable of carrying 80 simultaneous two-way telephone conversations, inclusiv of telegraph, telephoto, and teleprinter traffic.” said Mr Bewley “It was developed by British Post Office engineers, and differs from older submarine cables in that Its mechanical strength is obtained from high tensile steel strands in the centre of the cable in place of the traditional heavy outer armouring wires.

“The outer covering is now merely a light polythene ■heath. Built-in amplifiers spaced about every 25 nautical miles at the bottom of the ocean amplify the signals as they pass on their way, and ensure that whatever the distance the message has to travel ** wiu arrive clearly. "The second section of the Commonwealth cable to be laid is to be that between Sydney and Auckland, due to be opened tn June. This Pacific section at the project is known as Cornpac, and its route will have been further extended from Auckland as far as Vancouver by IM3 This eable is important to New Zealand as it will mitigate the vagaries of longdistance radio communication, and moreover is of special significance to the countries of the Commonwealth in providing tangible evidence of the close ties binding them to each other. “When Cornpac is completed. the quality of telephone conversations between here and London will be just as good as between here and the next town." Mr Bewley said.