MCI WorldCom Urges 'Pre-Conditions' for SBC-Ameritech Merger Approval

Washington, DC, May 6, 1999 - Only by imposing
"pre-conditions" on the SBC-Ameritech merger can the FCC
ensure that the monopolies' market-opening promises will be kept,
Jonathan B. Sallet, MCI WorldCom chief policy counsel, told the FCC
today. Speaking at a Commission forum on the proposed merger, Sallet
called for denial of the anticompetitive merger. However, if the FCC
decides to approve the deal, then the agency should require that any
conditions imposed have been fully satisfied before the parties are
permitted to consummate the merger, he stressed.
"The Commission should take a hard look at whether this merger,
even with conditional approval, could ever be in the public's
interest. We believe the answer is a resounding 'no,'"
Sallet said. "However, if this Commission determines that the
merger could withstand such scrutiny, the Commission must impose
'pre-conditions' and it must take full responsibility for
ensuring that the obligations are specific, concrete and enforced"
before the merger closes.

Such pre-conditions must be designed to prevent the merged company
from using its increased bottleneck facilities to exert monopoly
control over data services, Sallet said. The Commission also should
require SBC and Ameritech to provide combinations of unbundled elements
as required by law and to fully comply with the its recent collocation
order, he said. Sallet noted that MCI WorldCom recently proposed
pre-conditions designed to ensure access by competitive local carriers
to SBC-Ameritech regionwide "operations support systems" and
third-party testing of those systems.

Lessons from Bell Atlantic-NYNEX Merger

MCI WorldCom came to the conclusion that pre-conditions are
necessary based on its experience with the Bell Atlantic-NYNEX merger,
Sallet said. "Bell Atlantic has provided nearly two years of delay
and strategic noncompliance," Sallet said. "Indeed, its
disregard for the conditions has become more brazen as the sunset date
for the conditions draws closer."

In December, 1997, MCI WorldCom filed a complaint against Bell
Atlantic for its refusal to offer rates based on "total element
long-rung incremental cost." In March 1998, it filed another
complaint for Bell Atlantic's refusal to negotiate performance
requirements in good faith. Those complaints have languished at the FCC
for more than a year, Sallet said.

"And now, we have been forced to initiate action against Bell
Atlantic for its failure to provide uniform interfaces throughout its
region, Sallet added. "All of these conditions were trumpeted as
measures which would ensure that Bell Atlantic would open its local
markets. Instead, merger conditions have been ignored, the local
markets have not been opened in that region, and Bell Atlantic is on to
the next merger."

To prevent similar abuses by the merged SBC-Ameritech, the FCC
should impose meaningful and effective obligations that will promote
Congress' goal of ensuring local competition that benefits
consumers, Sallet said. Failure to make completion of the merger
conditional on meeting such obligations likely would lead to local
entry being further hampered by the companies' increased bottleneck
control over access to the local loop, he emphasized.

MCI WorldCom is a global leader in communications services with 1998
revenues of more than $30 billion and established operations in over 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 and Internet
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. MCI WorldCom is traded on NASDAQ under WCOM. For
more information on MCI WorldCom, visit the World Wide Web at
http://www.wcom.com.