Nynex Corp has failed in its effort to persuade the US Justice Department to allow it to hold the US end of Cable & Wireless Plc’s transatlantic fibre optic cable – but the New York and New England phone company still hopes to persuade Judge Greene to give it a waiver. The company tried to bypass the Justice Department and get a summary decision from the judge, but he declined to interrupt due process by considering the matter ahead of the Justice Department ruling. Justice turned the application down on the grounds that while it the move did not contravene normal anti-trust rules, it was outside the activities permitted under the 1984 AT&T anti-trust consent decree. It also doubted that Judge Greene could allow Nynex a waiver without allowing all the other Bells into the long distance telephone service market. Nynex’s efforts may anyway turn out to be a lost cause, because Cables is actively seeking another partner – and IBM’s name has been touted.
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