1976, Bell Institute of America built the first optical fiber communication experimental system in Atlanta, which was made by Western Electric Company and included.

Optical cable with 144 optical fiber. 1980, commercial optical cables made of multimode optical fibers began to be used in local inter-office trunk lines and a few long-distance lines. 1983 commercial optical cables made of single-mode optical fibers began to be used on long-distance lines. 1988, the first transatlantic submarine cable connecting the United States, Britain and France was successfully laid, and soon the first transatlantic submarine cable was built. 1978, China developed its own communication optical cable, which adopts multimode optical fiber and has a stranded core structure. Field tests were carried out in Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan and other places. Soon after, it was tried as an inter-office relay in the local telephone network. After 1984, it was gradually used for long-distance lines, and single-mode optical fibers began to be used. Compared with copper cable, communication optical cable has larger transmission capacity, long relay distance, small volume, light weight and no electromagnetic interference. Since 1976, it has developed into the backbone of wired transmission lines for long-distance trunk lines, local trunk lines, maritime and transoceanic submarine communications, local area networks and private networks, and has begun to develop into the field of local subscriber loop distribution networks, providing transmission lines for fiber-to-the-home and broadband integrated services digital networks.