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The historic TAT-8, the first transatlantic fibre-optic cable, is being pulled from the Atlantic seabed for recycling in South Africa after over two decades. Laid by AT&T, British Telecom, and France Telecom, TAT-8 connected the US, UK, and France and began operations on December 14, 1998.

Recovery efforts by Subsea Environmental Services commenced last year, with 1,012 kilometers of cable retrieved by August. The cable will be processed by Mertech Marine to extract valuable materials, including high-quality copper.