Ten firms asked approval to build a Pacific cable.

The telecommunications companies led by American Telephone & Telegraph have applied to the Federal Communications Commission for approval to build and operate the first undersea light-wave cable system to span the Pacific Ocean. The cable system would consist of two major parts--a 7,200-mile segment connecting California and Hawaii and also Guam and Japan, and a 1,500-mile link between Guam and the Philippine island of Luzon. In addition to AT&T;, the firms seeking approval for the high-technology fiber optic cable systems are Hawaiian Telephone, ITT World Communications, MCI International, GTE Sprint, Western Union Telegraph, RCA Global Communications, FTC Communications and TRT Telecommunications.