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I think this is wrong. AFAIK satellites have never been a significant channel for domestic phone calls.

Microwave relays were obsoleted by fiber optics.

> Like their predecessor satellites, the Telstar 3 satellites operate at 6/4 GHz (C band). Simultaneous long distance telephone call capacity is 21,600. The satellites furnish voice, video, and high speed data services.

https://www.telcomhistory.org/resources/online-exhibits/scie...

Perhaps I was overly categorical. Certainly satellites could be used for telephone calls, but my impression is that this was never a dominant use, except maybe for overseas calling (given the expense of undersea telephone cables).

e.g. I found this government report report from 1983 stating that "microwave is the chief means of transmitting long-distance telephone calls..." in the U.S., this is well after the advent of satellites: https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Five_year_plan/NbGS1A...

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