Washington, DC, November 4, 1999 - MCI WorldCom's merger
with Sprint represents a commitment to provide broadband and a full
range of other services to the residential market, Bernard J. Ebbers,
MCI WorldCom president and chief executive officer, said today.
Testifying before a Senate Judiciary Committee informational
hearing, Ebbers said that moves by AT&T and the Bell operating
companies to dominate the provision of high-speed Internet access over
their monopoly cable and copper networks were a driving factor in the
decision by MCI WorldCom and Sprint to unite. The combined company will
be able to provide all customers a full-service alternative to the
monopolies, Ebbers said.
"We could have left residential customers to the Bells and big
cable, but that would have been bad for those consumers and bad for
us," Ebbers told the committee. "MCI WorldCom and Sprint
decided to join forces as the single best hope for a strong and
effective alternative to the mega-Bells and the emerging AT&T cable
monopoly," he said.
The telecommunications market is moving toward global, full-service
carriers, Ebbers said. "Our conclusion is that the separate market
for long distance is eroding," he said. "Successful
competitors need to be able to fulfill all of a customer's needs
for wireless and wireline and be able to bring broadband services all
the way to a customer's home or business."
"The combined, complementary strengths of MCI WorldCom and
Sprint will make us well equipped to develop and market the
communication products and services consumers need and want most: data,
Internet, wireless, local, long distance, and international,"
Ebbers said.
MCI WorldCom is a global leader in communications services with 1998
revenues of more than $30 billion and established operations in more
than 65 countries encompassing the Americas, Europe and the
Asia-Pacific regions. MCI WorldCom is a premier provider of
facilities-based and fully integrated local, long distance,
international, Internet and wireless messaging services. MCI
WorldCom's global networks, including its state-of-the-art
pan-European network and transoceanic cable systems, provide end-to-end
high-capacity connectivity to more than 40,000 buildings worldwide. On
October 5, 1999, MCI WorldCom and Sprint announced a definitive merger
agreement. Following regulatory and shareholder approvals, the company
expects the merger to be closed in the second half of 2000. MCI
WorldCom is traded on NASDAQ under WCOM. For more information on MCI
WorldCom, visit the World Wide Web at http://www.wcom.com.
