On this day in 1982, the “Apollo” cable was inaugurated

On April 28, 1982, at the landing station in Lagonisi, the inauguration of the Greece–Cyprus submarine cable link took place, marking the full commissioning of the “Apollo,” a project of crucial importance for international telecommunications in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The project, with a total cost of $40 million, was jointly implemented by OTE and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta), which shared the financing as well as the management and operation of their respective sections of the system.

The “Apollo” cable was a state-of-the-art coaxial submarine system for its time, 1,260 kilometers long, connecting Larnaca with Lagonisi. It featured 99 amplifiers and 6 equalizers and provided a total of 1,380 high-quality telephone circuits, dramatically increasing the capacity and reliability of telecommunications between Greece and Cyprus. Its significance, however, extended beyond the bilateral connection, as through the Greek network, Cyprus gained direct access to broader European and international telecommunications networks.

By the end of 1981, approximately 240 channels were already operating via the new cable, relieving the pre-existing systems, which had reached the limits of their capacity. At the same time, the network’s new architecture ensured the continuity of telecommunications in the event of a failure in the old cable systems.

A comparison with the earlier “Aphrodite” cable illustrates the technological progress of the decade. “Aphrodite,” which went into operation in 1975—one year after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus—had 480 telephone circuits, 45 amplifiers, and 4 equalizers. With the introduction of “Apollo,” capacity nearly tripled, while the quality and reliability of communications improved significantly. This development is also reflected in the expansion of automatic international telephony on the island: from 34 countries with which Cypriot subscribers could communicate in 1975, the number increased to 95 by 1985.

Photo:

The cover of the invitation to the inauguration of the “Apollo” submarine cable.