Commonwealth Pacific Cable System
COMPAC, the Commonwealth Pacific Cable System, was an undersea telephone cable system connecting Canada with New Zealand and Australia. It was completed by closing the last gap in Honolulu Harbor, Hawaii, at 6:25 a.m. B.S.T. on October 10, 1963. Public service of the cable commenced early in December 1963.[1]
History
[edit]COMPAC was developed as a complementary system to CANTAT, the system linking Canada to the United Kingdom, which had begun operating in December 1961.[2] COMPAC was designed to extend west towards Commonwealth nations in the Pacific, linking Vancouver to Auckland, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia, via Honolulu and Suva in Fiji.[2] The Auckland – Sydney section was completed in early 1962, followed by the Auckland – Suva section in July, with the entire system completed by October 1963.[2]
The system cost a total of $100 million.[citation needed] It spanned 14,000 miles, from Oban in Scotland via CANTAT to Newfoundland, by microwave link across Canada, then cable on to Hawaii, Suva (Fiji), Auckland (New Zealand), and Sydney (Australia). Three cable ships (CS Mercury, CS Retriever, and HMTS Monarch) laid the cable. The link contains 11,000 miles of telephone cable, which, at the time, provided 80 two-way speech channels or 1,760 teleprinter circuits.[3] In addition, the cable carried telegraph traffic, leased circuits for airlines, shipping companies and other commercial transmission.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Collins, Robert, A Voice from Afar: The History of Telecommunications in Canada, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1977, pp. 292-295.
- ^ a b c Mander, Neil (2011). "COMPAC Submarine Telephone Cable System". In La Roche, John (ed.). Evolving Auckland: The City's Engineering Heritage. Wily Publications. pp. 195–202. ISBN 9781927167038.
- ^ "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - 1963 COMPAC Cable". Atlantic-cable.com. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- ^ "History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy - Stamps". Atlantic-cable.com. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- Submarine communications cables in the Pacific Ocean
- Australia–Canada relations
- Canada–New Zealand relations
- Canada–Fiji relations
- Australia–Fiji relations
- Fiji–New Zealand relations
- Australia–New Zealand relations
- 1963 establishments in British Columbia
- 1963 establishments in Hawaii
- 1963 establishments in New Zealand
- 1963 establishments in Australia
- 1963 establishments in Fiji