A dummy bit elimination device in a coding apparatus for use in a submarine cable system. The dummy bit elimination device has a converter for eliminating only dummy bits from FEC (Forward Error Correction) code. The coding apparatus has an optical-to-electrical signal transducer, a demultiplexer, a coder for generating an FEC code, a multiplexer for multiplexing inputs, and an electrical-to-optical signal transducer. The dummy bit elimination device is inserted between the coder and the multiplexer so that the outputs of the coder are fed to the converter and an outputs of the converter are fed to the multiplexer.