MCI Introduces Virtual Peering Services Across MAE® Facilities Nationwide

New MAE Extended Services Enable Companies to Interconnect Networks Simply and Cost Effectively

ASHBURN, Va., August 10, 2004 - MCI (NASDAQ:MCIP) today introduced a new way for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other large bandwidth users to interconnect networks at any of MCI's MAE switching facilities nationwide. With MCI's new MAE Extended Services, businesses can now build virtual private connections to exchange traffic over MCI's global IP network without the regional or physical limitations traditionally associated with peering. This results in better network utilization and expanded geographic reach for its customers.

"With our new MAE portfolio, we are enabling our customers to increase the reach and efficiency of their networks without worrying about where their networking equipment is located," said Nancy Gofus, MCI senior vice president, Product Management. "Joining MCI's extensive portfolio of wide area networking solutions, this new set of advanced services empowers customers to build their networks in a new and more efficient way to meet their high bandwidth requirements."

Unlike the traditional model of peering which is only with companies physically located at the same location or within the same region, organizations can now virtually "connect" across MCI's three major U.S. regions, including MAE East (Washington, D.C. metro, New York City), MAE Central (Dallas, Chicago), and MAE West (San Jose and Los Angeles, Calif). Expanding a customer's network reach through MCI's MAE services can be compared to being a retail tenant in a shopping mall-the bigger the mall, the greater access shoppers have to merchandise and selection. With an extended peering network, customers can easily choose and select with whom they want to interconnect, enabling them to adjust in real-time with changing business requirements.

Ideal for ISPs, content providers, cable operators, government, educational and business customers, organizations can now link together distributed networks or enterprise locations using these services.

With MCI's new MAE Services, ISPs can now connect to content providers across the U.S. In
addition to the traditional use of peering services, MCI's MAE Extended Services can help customers build internal and external networks to support cable network services, on-demand video services, online gaming, Ethernet Layer 2 VPNs, transparent LAN services and OCn Layer 2 VPNs.

MCI transport service customer Stealth Communications, a New-York based company focused on the development of advanced networking and transmission technology to deliver flexible, yet affordable, high-speed Internet and data services, looks forward to tapping into MCI's MAE Extended Services in order to better serve its growing customer base.

"MCI's new MAE services will deliver additional value to Stealth Communications and our customers," said Stealth Communications President and CEO Shrihari Pandit. "MCI's new extended MAE capabilities will help us to transparently broaden and deepen our footprint in the United States, while providing an easier and more affordable way for customers to connect to our network."

MCI customers have a choice of access technologies including ATM, Frame Relay and Gigabit Ethernet to build their networks. Once a network link is up, customers can quickly and easily build connections using MCI's unique Web-based provisioning tool PeerMaker (SM) and are charged only for the actual bandwidth used. With PeerMaker, MCI customers gain immediate visibility into all MAE Services customers, enabling them to easily create, modify and maintain their own network connections without assistance from MCI. Businesses can also obtain traffic graphs of their ports and connections on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

MCI also plans to expand its suite of services to additional U.S. and global locations beginning this fall. All MAE services support IPv6, the new Internet standard for generating IP addresses.

About MCI
MCI, Inc., (NASDAQ: MCIP), 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 the number of company-owned points of presence, and wholly-owned data networks, MCI develops the converged communications products and services that are the foundation for commerce and communications in today's market. For more information, go to www.mci.com.