MCI WorldCom CEO Says Sprint Merger Shows Commitment to All
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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.
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