peterm@sumax.seattleu.edu (Peter Marshall) (02/17/91)
An AP story, "US West to Pay $10 Million Fine," was buried in the
Business Section of today's {Seattle Times}. According to AP, "US West
Inc. agreed yesterday to pay a $10 million civil fine for violating
the 1982 consent decree that broke up AT&T, the Justice Department
said.
US West admitted to four violations of the consent decree that
restricts the types of businesses and services the spun-off companies
may provide.
The fine is the largest ever collected from a single defendant by the
Justice Department's antitrust division, the department said. It was
also was the largest fine for an antitrust contempt case.
US West admitted that it violated the consent decree by offering a
reverse directory service.
The company also admitted its Applied Communications Inc. subsidiary
violated the consent decree by providing support to run a debit card
system for Atlantic Richfield Co. It also admitted to price
discrimination by offering the General Services Administration a lower
price on local exchange access if it purchased switching equipment
from US West, the Justice Department said. US West also admitted to
violating the ban on manufacturing telecommunications equipment by
designing and selling operator workstations through its Knowledge
Engineering Inc. subsidiary...."