U.S. FCC Licenses Undersea Cable Group, Opening Probe, WSJ Says
Bloomberg News
July 9, 1999, 7:01 a.m. ET
Washington, July 9 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Federal
Communications Commission gave a license to a group of companies
building an undersea cable between the U.S. and Japan, and also
decided to start an investigation of the industry, the Wall
Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.
As expected, the FCC granted a license to the group of companies
including AT&T Corp., MCI WorldCom Corp., Sprint Corp. and three
large Japanese telephone companies after they revised their
agreement to address FCC competition concerns. However, the
agency still plans an inquiry into how various groups build and
operate undersea cables, the Journal said.
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether AT&T
and other established telecommunications companies are using the
$1 billion undersea cable project to unfairly squash competition
from upstart Global Crossing Ltd.
(WSJ 7/9 C20 wsj.com) |
