And the US Federal Communications Commission has given approval for the TAT-9 fibre optic cable across the Atlantic, which will 80,000 channels, twice the capacity of the TAT-8 which is due to come into service later this year: the $400m cost is being shared by AT&T Co, British Telecom International, MCI Communications, US Sprint Communications, Telefonica, France Telecom and all of the Scandinavian PTTs.