MCI Continues To Serve Federal Government Customers

Company committed to completion of internal controls project

ASHBURN, Va., JULY 31, 2003 - MCI (WCOEQ, MCWEQ) today said that it accepts the General Services Administration's (GSA) decision for proposed debarment, which will not affect MCI's ability to serve its existing federal government customers. The company said that it has been communicating with GSA for some time and will continue to work diligently to implement new internal controls systems and strengthen its Ethics Office. The company will be allowed to seek new government business once it achieves these recommendations and receives approval by GSA.

Michael Capellas, MCI chairman and CEO, said "Throughout the events of the past year, our 55,000 employees have been working harder than ever to provide world-class service to all our customers, including government agencies. Today's announcement will not affect MCI's existing contracts with state and federal government customers who can continue to count on us to provide the industry's best service and support.

"We are in the process of rebuilding our ethics program and understand that there is still more work to do. MCI has made significant progress on many fronts. We remain committed to operating with the utmost integrity.

"Today's news does not in any way affect the timing of our emergence from Chapter 11 protection."

Irwin Gold, senior managing director, Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, financial advisors to MCI's Creditors Committee, said: "MCI's creditors committee fully supports Michael Capellas and his management team as they rapidly work to fulfill GSA's recommendations so they can again compete for new government contracts. We remain very confident in the company's plan of reorganization."

Bob Blakely, MCI chief financial officer, said: "No one has ever had to reconstruct three years of financial history for a company of this magnitude. We are working diligently and have no higher priority than to implement our new internal controls systems. The company's customer-facing transaction systems remain solid and we continue to operate with world-class network performance and the lowest FCC reportable outages in the industry."

Blakely said that MCI has hired more than 400 accounting professionals, established a new internal controls team, brought in a new external auditor, KPMG, and retained Deloitte & Touche to assist the company with the internal controls project.

About WorldCom, Inc.
WorldCom, Inc. (WCOEQ, MCWEQ), which currently conducts business under the MCI brand name, is a leading global communications provider, delivering innovative, cost-effective, advanced communications connectivity to businesses, governments and consumers. With the industry's most expansive global IP backbone, based on company-owned POPs, and wholly-owned data networks, WorldCom develops the converged communications products and services that are the foundation for commerce and communications in today's market. For more information, go to http://www.mci.com.