TAT-8 replaced copper coax for transatlantic voice and data, dramatically lowering per-bit cost on the backbone. It landed in New Jersey, Cornwall, and Brittany — capacity that later carried internet traffic as dial-up and leased-line users multiplied. Datacenter and CDN builders still depend on submarine fiber for cross-ocean latency and bandwidth.

TAT-8 proved fiber could cross an ocean at scale — the template for every modern submarine internet cable.

It multiplied transatlantic capacity and helped make global internet routing economically viable.