The US Justice Department has bowled Judge Greene a googly by recommending that he should approve the application by two of the Baby Bells, Ameritech and Bell Atlantic Corp, to be allowed to offer long-distance service between New Zealand and the US, including ownership of satellites and undersea cables for the service, following their acquisition of Telecom Corp of New Zealand for $2,460m: all the activities at issue are barred to the Baby Bells under the AT&T break-up consent decree, and last time the issue arose, when Nynex Corp asked to be allowed to hold the US end of the PTAT-1 transatlantic fibre optic cable, Judge Greene said no way.
