UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
MCI COMMUNICATIONS
CORPORATION and
BT FORTY-EIGHT COMPANY
("NewCo"),
Defendants.
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Civil Action No. ________
Filed:
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FINAL JUDGMENT
WHEREAS, plaintiff, United States of America, filed its
Complaint on June 15, 1994,
AND WHEREAS, plaintiff and defendants, by their
respective attorneys, have consented to the entry of this Final
Judgment without trial or adjudication on any issue of fact or
law,
AND WHEREAS, defendants have further consented after
any consummation as defined in the Stipulation entered into by
defendants and the United States on June 10, 1994, to be bound by
the provisions of this Final Judgment pending its approval by the
Court,
AND WHEREAS, plaintiff the United States believes that
entry of this Final Judgment is necessary to protect competition
in United States telecommunications and enhanced
telecommunications markets,
THEREFORE, it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED:
I
Jurisdiction
This Court has jurisdiction of the subject matter of
this action and of each of the parties consenting to this Final
Judgment. The Complaint states a claim upon which relief may be
granted against the defendants under Section 7 of the Clayton
Act, 15 U.S.C. § 18, as amended.
II
Substantive Restrictions and Obligations
- MCI and NewCo shall not offer, supply, distribute, or
otherwise provide in the United States any telecommunications or
enhanced telecommunications service that makes use of
telecommunications services provided by BT in the United Kingdom
or between the United States and United Kingdom, unless the
following information is disclosed in the United States by MCI or
Newco or such disclosure is expressly waived, in whole or in
part, by plaintiff through written notice to defendants and the
Court:
- By NewCo, within 30 days following any agreement
or change to an agreement - The prices, terms, and conditions,
including any applicable discounts, on which telecommunications
services are provided by BT to NewCo in the United Kingdom
pursuant to interconnection agreements;
- By NewCo, within 30 days following any agreement
or change to an agreement, or the provision of service absent any
specific agreement - The prices, terms, and conditions, including
any applicable discounts, on which telecommunications services,
other than those provided pursuant to interconnection agreements
made under Condition 13 of BT's license, are provided by BT to
NewCo in the United Kingdom for use by NewCo in the supply of
telecommunications or enhanced telecommunications services
between the United States and United Kingdom, or are provided by
BT in the United Kingdom in conjunction with such NewCo services
where BT is acting as the distributor for NewCo;
- By MCI, with respect to international switched
telecommunications or enhanced telecommunications services
jointly provided by BT and MCI on a correspondent basis between
the United States and United Kingdom, and to the extent not
already disclosed publicly pursuant to the rules and regulations
of the Federal Communications Commission, or otherwise to the
corporations referred to in Section IV.E -
| (i) | within 30 days following any agreement or
change to an agreement, or the provision of service
absent any specific agreement, the accounting and
settlement rates and other terms and conditions for the
provision of each such service; and
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| (ii) | on an annual basis, for any such services for
which more than one accounting and settlement rate may
be applicable (e.g., rates for peak and off-peak
service), or services with different accounting and
settlement rates which are pooled or otherwise combined
for calculating proportionate returns, if other United
States international telecommunications providers do
not have or receive data sufficient to determine
whether they are receiving their appropriate share of
return traffic in each accounting rate category (e.g.,
the total volumes of United States traffic to BT, and
total volumes of BT traffic to the United States, for
each type of traffic with a different accounting rate),
MCI's minutes of traffic to and from BT in each
accounting rate category;
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- By NewCo, on a semiannual basis - Schedules of
telecommunications services provided by BT to NewCo in the United
Kingdom for use by NewCo in the supply of telecommunications or
enhanced telecommunications services between the United States
and the United Kingdom, or provided by BT in the United Kingdom
in conjunction with such NewCo services where BT is acting as the
distributor for NewCo, showing:
| (i) | the types of circuits (including capacity)
and telecommunications services provided;
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| (ii) | the actual average time intervals between
order and delivery of circuits (separately indicating
average intervals for analog circuits, digital circuits
up to 2 megabits, and digital circuits 2 megabits and
larger) and telecommunications services; and
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| (iii) | the number of outages and actual average
time intervals between fault report and restoration of
service for circuits (separately indicating average
intervals for analog and for digital circuits) and
telecommunications services;
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but excluding the identities of individual customers of BT, MCI,
or NewCo or the location of circuits or telecommunications
services dedicated to the use of such customers;
- By MCI - Schedules showing:
| (i) | on a semiannual basis, separately for analog
international private line circuits (IPLCs) and for
digital IPLCs jointly provided by BT and MCI between
the United States and the United Kingdom, the actual
average time intervals between order and delivery by
BT;
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| (ii) | on an annual basis, separately for analog
IPLCs and for digital IPLCs jointly provided by BT and
MCI between the United States and the United Kingdom,
the number of outages and actual average time intervals
between fault report and restoration of service, for
any outages that occurred in the international
facility, in the cablehead or earth station outside the
United States, or the network of a telecommunications
provider outside the United States, indicating
separately the number of outages and actual average
time intervals to restoration of service in each such
area; and
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| (iii) | on a semiannual basis, for circuits used to
provide international switched telecommunications
services or enhanced telecommunications services on a
correspondent basis between the United States and the
United Kingdom, the average number of circuit
equivalents available to MCI during the busy hour;
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- By NewCo, within 30 days of receipt of any
information described herein - Information provided by BT to MCI
or NewCo about planned and authorized improvements or changes to
BT's United Kingdom public telecommunications system operated
pursuant to its license that would affect interconnection
arrangements between BT and either NewCo or other licensed
operators, provided that if MCI receives any such information
from BT separately from NewCo, MCI shall similarly be required to
disclose such information in the same manner as NewCo.
The obligations of this Section II.A shall not extend to the
disclosure of intellectual property or other proprietary
information of the defendants or BT that has been maintained as
confidential by its owner, except to the extent that it is of a
type expressly required to be disclosed herein, or is necessary
for licensed operators to interconnect with BT's United Kingdom
public telecommunications system operated pursuant to its license
or for United States international telecommunications providers
to use BT's international telecommunications or enhanced
telecommunications correspondent services.
- MCI and NewCo, and any person who may be designated by
MCI to sit on the Board of Directors of BT, shall not receive
from BT, or from any persons designated by BT to sit on the Board
of Directors of MCI, any information that is identified as
proprietary by United States telecommunications or enhanced
telecommunications service providers (and maintained as
confidential by them) and is obtained by BT from such providers
as the result of BT's provision of interconnection or other
telecommunications services to them in the United Kingdom.
- MCI and NewCo, and any person who may be designated by
MCI to sit on the Board of Directors of BT, shall not receive
from BT, or from any persons designated by BT to sit on the Board
of Directors of MCI, any confidential, non-public information
obtained as a result of BT's correspondent relationships with
other United States international telecommunications or enhanced
telecommunications service providers, except to the extent
necessary for MCI to comply with its obligations under Section
II.A.3(ii) concerning disclosure of the total volume of traffic
(but not the individual traffic volumes for other providers)
received by BT from the United States and sent by BT to the
United States that is subject to proportionate return, or under
Section II.A.5 (but not including individual information on other
providers).
- MCI, and any person who may be designated by MCI to sit
on the Board of Directors of BT, shall not seek or accept from
BT, or from any persons designated by BT to sit on the Board of
Directors of MCI, any non-public information about the future
prices or pricing plans of any provider of international
telecommunications services between the United States and the
United Kingdom with which MCI competes in the provision of such
services.
- Neither MCI nor Newco shall provide to BT any
telecommunications facilities or services to be used by BT for
international simple resale between the United Kingdom and the
United States, until the following conditions have occurred or
unless such conditions are expressly waived in whole or part by
plaintiff through written notice to defendants and the Court:
- all qualified United States international
telecommunications providers (including their United Kingdom
subsidiaries or affiliates) that have applied for licenses
in the United Kingdom that would include the ability to
provide international simple resale between the United
States and the United Kingdom on or before December 1, 1993
have been granted licenses to provide international simple
resale by the responsible governmental authorities in the
United Kingdom; and
- all such United States international
telecommunications providers licensed to provide
international simple resale in the United Kingdom have been
offered the opportunity to interconnect with BT's
telecommunications network in the United Kingdom operated
pursuant to its license, on standard, nondiscriminatory and
published terms (including the locations where
interconnection is offered) and with reasonable
arrangements for any other necessary technical aspects of
interconnection, enabling them to engage in international
simple resale without limitation on the amount of traffic
carried.
"Qualified United States international telecommunications
providers," for purposes of this Section II.E, shall mean all
United States international telecommunications providers as of
December 1, 1993, except for any provider that (a) has withdrawn
its license application to provide international simple resale,
(b) has been found by United Kingdom government authorities to
have failed to pursue effectively its license application or to
have failed to meet the requirements for a license to provide
international simple resale, so long as such requirements are
applicable to all persons that seek to provide international
simple resale between the United Kingdom and the United States,
(c) has, in the judgment of the plaintiff, absent any finding by
United Kingdom government authorities, failed to pursue
effectively its license application, (d) has voluntarily modified
its license application after December 1, 1993 (other than to
make modifications requested by United Kingdom government
authorities) to such a substantial extent that it is subject to
additional publication and can no longer be pursued on its
original schedule; (e) has been offered a license that would
allow it to commence providing international simple resale
between the United States and the United Kingdom and has not
accepted such license; or (f) has failed, after the grant of a
license, to supply promptly an adequate statement of the
necessary information required for interconnection. A list of
the entities that plaintiff the United States and defendants
presently understand to be qualified under this Section II.E is
included in the Stipulation entered into by defendants and
plaintiff on June 10, 1994.
III
Applicability and Effect
The provisions of this Final Judgment shall be binding
upon defendants, their affiliates, subsidiaries, successors and
assigns, officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys,
and upon those persons in active concert or participation with
them who receive actual notice of this Final Judgment by personal
service or otherwise. Defendants shall cooperate with the United
States Department of Justice in ensuring that the provisions of
this Final Judgment are carried out. Neither this Final Judgment
not any of its terms or provisions shall constitute any evidence
against, an admission by, or an estoppel against the defendants.
The effective date of this Final Judgment shall be the date upon
which it is entered.
IV
Definitions
For the purposes of this Final Judgment:
- "Affiliate" and "subsidiary" when used in
connection with MCI do not include NewCo and BT, when used in
connection with BT do not include NewCo and MCI, and when used in
connection with NewCo do not include BT or MCI (but do include
all entities in which NewCo has an ownership interest or which
are subject to its control, or are jointly owned and controlled
by BT and MCI). Nor shall BT be deemed to be a person in active
concert or participation with NewCo or MCI for purposes of this
Final Judgment.
- "BT" means British Telecommunications plc, and any
entity owned or controlled by BT, apart from NewCo and MCI. BT
does not include any MCI employees who may serve on BT's Board of
Directors.
- "Correspondent" means a bilaterally negotiated
arrangement between a provider of telecommunications services in
the US or the UK and a provider of telecommunications services in
the other of the US or the UK for provision of an international
telecommunications or enhanced telecommunications service, by
which each party undertakes to terminate in its country traffic
originated by the other party. A service managed by NewCo, and
provided without correspondent relationships with any other
provider, shall not be deemed to constitute a correspondent
service.
- "Defendant" or "defendants" means MCI and NewCo.
- "Disclose," for purposes of ¶¶ II.A.1-6, means
disclosure to the United States Department of Justice Antitrust
Division, which may further disclose such information to any
United States corporation that directly or through a subsidiary
or affiliate holds or has applied for a license from either the
United States Federal Communications Commission or the United
Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry to provide international
telecommunications services between the United States and the
United Kingdom. Disclosure by the Department of Justice to any
corporation described above shall be made only upon agreement by
such corporation, in the form prescribed in the Stipulation
entered into by defendants and the United States on June 10,
1994, not to disclose any non-public information to any other
person, apart from governmental authorities in the United States
or United Kingdom. Where NewCo is required to disclose, in
Section II.A, particular telecommunications services provided,
this shall include disclosure of the identity of each of the
services, and reasonable detail about each of the services to the
extent not already published elsewhere, but shall not require
disclosure of underlying facilities used to provide a particular
service that is offered on a unitary basis, except to the extent
necessary to identify the service and the means of
interconnection with the service.
- "Enhanced telecommunications service" means any
telecommunications service that involves as an integral part of
the service the provision of features or capabilities that are
additional to the conveyance (including switching) of the
information transmitted. Although enhanced telecommunications
services use telecommunications services for conveyance, their
additional features or capabilities do not lose their enhanced
status as a result.
- "Facility" means: (i) any line, trunk, wire,
cable, tube, pipe, satellite, earth station, antenna or other
means that is directly used or designed or adapted for use in the
conveyance, transmission, origination or reception of a
telecommunications or enhanced telecommunications service; (ii)
any switch, multiplexer, or other equipment or apparatus that is
directly used or designed or adapted for use in connection with
the conveyance, transmission, origination, reception, switching,
signaling, modulation, amplification, routing, collection,
storage, forwarding, transformation, translation, conversion,
delivery or other provision of any telecommunications or enhanced
telecommunications service, and (iii) any structure, conduit,
pole, or other thing in, on, by, or from which any facility as
described in (i) or (ii) is or may be installed, supported,
carried or suspended.
- "Interconnection," "interconnect" and
"interconnection agreement" mean interconnection under Condition
13 of BT's License (or any subsequent or other condition
governing interconnection that may be imposed by United Kingdom
government authorities).
- "International simple resale" means the
transmission through international private or leased
telecommunications facilities, or by any other means of
telecommunications in which international usage is not measured,
of international voice or data telecommunications traffic
(excluding capabilities in addition to conveyance and such
switching, processing, data storage or protocol conversion as is
necessary for the conveyance of information in real time) that is
carried over the public switched telecommunications network in
both the country where it originates and the country where it
terminates.
- "MCI" means MCI Communications Corporation, and
any entity owned or controlled by MCI, apart from NewCo. MCI
does not include any BT employees who may serve on MCI's Board of
Directors.
- "NewCo" means BT Forty-Eight Company, the joint
venture of MCI and BT to be created pursuant to the terms of the
Joint Venture Agreement entered into by MCI and BT as of
August 4, 1993 (including any subsequent modifications or
amendments to such agreement), regardless of the name under which
it may subsequently do business, and any subsidiary, affiliate,
predecessor (whether the predecessor is jointly owned by MCI and
BT or separately owned by either of them), successor, or assign
of such joint venture, or any other entity jointly owned by MCI
and BT and having among its purposes substantially the same
purposes as described for NewCo in the Joint Venture Agreement.
NewCo shall not be deemed to include BT or any of its affiliates
in which NewCo does not have an ownership interest.
- "Telecommunications service" means the conveyance,
by electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic, electromechanical or
electrochemical means (including fiber-optics), of information
consisting of:
- speech, music and other sounds;
- visual images;
- signals serving for the impartation (whether
as between persons and persons, things and things or
persons and things) of any matter, including but not
limited to data, otherwise than in the form of sounds
or visual images;
- signals serving for the actuation or control
of machinery or apparatus; or
- translation or conversion that does not alter
the form or content of information as received from
that which is originally sent.
"Convey" and "conveyance" include transmission, switching, and
receiving, and cognate expressions shall be construed
accordingly. A telecommunications service includes all
facilities used in providing such service, and the installation,
maintenance, repair, adjustment, replacement and removal of any
such facilities. A service that is considered a
"telecommunications service" under this definition retains that
status when it is used to provide an enhanced telecommunications
service, or when used in combination with equipment, facilities
or other services.
- "United Kingdom" and "UK" mean England, Wales,
Scotland, Northern Ireland and all territories, dependencies, or
possessions of the United Kingdom (excluding the Isle of Man) for
which international telecommunications traffic is not normally
separately reported to the United States Federal Communications
Commission by United States telecommunications carriers.
- "United States" and "US" mean the fifty states,
the District of Columbia, and all territories, dependencies, or
possessions of the United States.
- "United States international telecommunications
provider" means any person or entity actually providing
international telecommunications services or enhanced
telecommunications services to users in the United States, and
that is incorporated in the United States, or that is ultimately
controlled by United States persons within the meaning of 16
C.F.R. § 801.1.
V
Visitorial and Compliance Provisions
- MCI and NewCo each agree to maintain sufficient
records and documents to demonstrate compliance with the
requirements of this Final Judgment.
- For the purposes of determining or securing
compliance of defendants with this Final Judgment, duly
authorized representatives of the plaintiff, upon written request
of the Attorney General or the Assistant Attorney General in
charge of the Antitrust Division, and on reasonable notice to the
relevant defendant, shall have access without restraint or
interference to MCI and to NewCo in the United States:
- during their office hours to inspect and copy
all records and documents in their possession or control relating
to any matters contained in this Final Judgment; and
- to interview or take sworn testimony from
their officers, directors, employees, trustees, or agents, who
may have counsel present, relating to any matter contained in
this Final Judgment. Provided, however, that NewCo officers and
directors who are employees of BT shall be required to produce
only NewCo documents and to provide information only concerning
NewCo.
- NewCo consents to make available to duly
authorized representatives of the plaintiff, for the purposes of
determining whether defendants have complied with the
requirements of this Final Judgment and to secure their
compliance:
- at the premises of the Antitrust Division in
Washington, D.C., within sixty days of receipt of written request
by the Attorney General or Assistant Attorney General in charge
of the Antitrust Division, records and documents in the
possession or control of NewCo or any NewCo affiliate or
subsidiary, wherever located; and
- for interviews or sworn testimony, in the
United States if requested by plaintiff but subject to their
reasonable convenience, officers, directors, employees, trustees
or agents, who may have counsel present. Provided, however, that NewCo officers and directors who are
employees of BT shall be required to produce only NewCo documents
and to provide information only concerning NewCo.
- Upon the written request of the Attorney General
or the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust
Division, a defendant shall submit written reports, under oath if
requested, relating to any of the matters contained in this
decree.
- No information or documents obtained by the means
provided in this Section V shall be divulged by the plaintiff to
any person other than the United States Department of Justice,
the Federal Communications Commission, and their employees,
agents and contractors, except in the course of legal proceedings
to which the United States is a party, or for the purpose of
securing compliance with this decree, or for identifying to the
United Kingdom Office of Telecommunications or other appropriate
United Kingdom regulatory agencies conduct by defendants or BT
that may violate United Kingdom law or regulations or BT's
license to operate its United Kingdom public telecommunications
system (but no documents received from defendants pursuant to
this Section V shall be disclosed to United Kingdom authorities
by the Department of Justice), or as otherwise required by law.
Prior to divulging any documents, interviews or sworn testimony
obtained pursuant to this Section V to the Federal Communications
Commission, plaintiff will obtain assurances that such materials
are protected from disclosure to third parties to the extent
permitted by law.
VI
Retention of Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is retained by this Court for the purposes
of enabling any of the parties to this Final Judgment to apply to
this Court at any time for such further orders or directions as
may be necessary or appropriate to carry out or construe this
decree, to modify or terminate any of its provisions, to enforce
compliance, and to punish any violations of its provisions.
VII
Modification
Any party to this Final Judgment may seek modification of
its substantive terms and obligations, and other parties to the
Final Judgment shall have an opportunity to respond to such a
motion. If the motion is contested by another party, it shall
only be granted if the movant makes a clear showing that (i) a
significant change in circumstances or significant new event
subsequent to the entry of the Final Judgment requires
modification of the Final Judgment to avoid substantial harm to
competition or consumers in the United States, or to avoid
substantial hardship to defendants, and (ii) the proposed
modification is (a) in the public interest, (b) suitably tailored
to the changed circumstances or new events and would not result
in serious hardship to any defendant, and (c) consistent with the
purposes of the antitrust laws of the United States and with the
telecommunications regulatory regime of the United Kingdom.
Neither the absence of specific reference to a particular event
in the Final Judgment nor the foreseeability of such an event at
the time this Final Judgment was entered, shall preclude this
Court's consideration of any modification request. This
standard for obtaining contested modifications shall not require
the United States to initiate a separate antitrust action before
seeking modifications. The same standard shall apply to any
party seeking modification of this Final Judgment. If a motion
to modify this Final Judgment is not contested by any party, it
shall be granted if the proposed modification is within the
reaches of the public interest. Where modifications of the
Final Judgment are sought, the provisions of Section V of this
Final Judgment may be invoked to obtain any information or
documents needed to evaluate the proposed modification prior to
decision by the Court.
VIII
Sanctions
Nothing in this Final Judgment shall prevent the United
States from seeking, or this Court from imposing, against
defendants or any other person, any relief available under any
applicable provision of law.
IX
Further Provisions
- The entry of this Final Judgment is in the public
interest.
- The substantive restrictions and obligations of
this Final Judgment shall be removed after five years have passed
from the date of entry of the Final Judgment, unless the Final
Judgment has been previously terminated.
DATED:
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_______________________________
United States District Judge
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