of businesses requir- ing credit card authorizations and accurate inventory tracking. 2 INTERNET AND TELECOM: A BRIEF HISTORY When COMSAT launched its first satellite in 1965, it provided almost 10 times the capacity of the submarine telephone cables for almost one tenth the price. Telephone service on a satellite facility suffers from the long path it must travel. In the early days, the availability of the service was its key selling point. Satellite telephone service is still the service to and between many countries today. The first fiber cable, TAT-8, was laid in the Atlantic Ocean in the mid-1980s and provided competition. Satellites are still competitive in many appli- cations, especially point-to-multipoint service such as DBS and net- work distribution to affiliates. References 1. United States V. Western Elec. Co., 1956 Trade Cas. (CCH) § 71,134 (D.N.J. 1956). Note: In 1956, AT&T and the U.S. Department of Justice entered into an agree- ment called the "Western Electric Consent Decree," which settled an antitrust action filed in 1949 against AT&T for alleged anti-competitive practices. In 1974, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust action against AT&T et al. for violation of federal antitrust laws. On August 24, 1982, the D.C. District Court (MFJ Court), under U.S. District Judge Harold Greene, accepted a proposed settlement of the cases styled as a "Modification of the 1956 Final Judgment" (MFJ). The MFJ Court vacated the 1956 Western Electric Consent Decree and replaced it with the MFJ. A plan of reorganization for AT&T was submitted to the MFJ Court as a condition of this settlement. The divested Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) were bound by the provisions of the MFJ, which limited them to providing local exchange services and, as originally entered, expressly prohibited them from providing inter-exchange services, information services, or manufacture of telecommunications equipment. The MFJ or consent decree required them to provide equal access to their network by inter-ex