AT&T Co has paid $12m for a share in the International Digital Communications PPAC-4 North Pacific fibre optic cable in which Cable & Wireless Plc is a major shareholder: the cable is currently under construction and is due to go into service in early 1991: landing points for the $400m cable are Pacific City, Oregon; Seward, Alaska; and Miura, Japan; AT&T already uses the first transpacific fibre-optic cable, TPC-4, completed in April 1989, for connections between the US mainland and Hawaii, Japan, Guam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan and Korea – but then it was a prime mover in the laying of that one – and has already begun work on a third Transpacific fibre cable, set for completion in October 1992.
