The project of congressmen involved the construction of lines with the length of two thousand miles in 10 years. Western Union handled the government task within 112 days. The secret of Sibley was simple: he used the tactics of the "Western Union". In the early forties of the 20th century, Western Union has used the first time a commercial intercity microwave transmission system. Western Union has several divisions, with products such as person-to-person money transfer, money orders, business payments and commercial services. The size of the commission fee for the transfer is charged according to the Western Union tariffs and depends on the amount of money sent. In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. In 1864, fearing the laying of long underwater lines, Western Union offered to carry out laying of telegraph lines to Europe through the Russian Alaska under the narrow Bering Strait and then to Siberia with branching in the major cities of Europe. Payment systems are one of basic elements of infrastructure of e-commerce. In 2007 the company made 167.7 million transactions on money transfers between individuals and 404.6 million transactions between physical and legal persons. In 1991, Western Union has sold some low-profit division of the company AT & T, GM Hughes Electronics, and to some others. In the same year the company changed its name to New Valley Corp. Thanks to cooperation with Western Union the Associated Press at the end of the XIX century took almost monopolistic position in the U.S. market news.