MCI WORLDCOM WANTS BELL ATLANTIC OPERATING SYSTEMS PUT TO
THE TEST IN PENNSYLVANIA
PUC Ruling Spurs Company to Prepare for Residential Local
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HARRISBURG, PA, September 2, 1999 -- MCI WorldCom is asking
Pennsylvania regulators today to allow it to conduct side-by-side testing
of critical operations support systems (OSS) as KPMG Peat Marwick
continues to evaluate Bell Atlantic's OSS in the state. The request
follows a landmark August 26 ruling by the Public Utility Commission (PUC)
that established a blueprint for creating widespread local phone
competition in Pennsylvania.
KPMG currently is conducting an independent analysis of Bell Atlantic's
operations support systems (OSS), the automated computer systems and
interfaces competitors must use to order, install, bill for and maintain
their customers' local service. That test, however, is being hampered by
Bell Atlantic's refusal to allow potential new local entrants, including
MCI WorldCom, to test alongside of KPMG. MCI WorldCom is asking the
Commission to allow it to actively participate in the test for two
reasons: to ensure compatibility between the systems and to locate and
resolve problems that KPMG's processes aren't designed to uncover.
"The PUC's bold decision last week cleared away some of the legal
obstacles Bell Atlantic created to prevent local phone competition from
taking root," said Carl Giesy, MCI WorldCom's regional director of public
policy. "Side-by-side OSS testing will help both MCI WorldCom and Bell
Atlantic move closer to making the PUC's order a commercial reality."
Similar side-by-side testing in New York found certain key problems
with Bell Atlantic's systems that KPMG's testing alone would not have
uncovered. As a result, MCI WorldCom was able to begin offering local
residential service on a limited basis in New York, where it has made more
than 160,000 sales statewide. Service at commercial volumes there hinges
on further actions by the New York Public Service Commission to compel
Bell Atlantic to fix remaining problems with its OSS.
"KPMG can test the procedures competitors must go through to request
customer data and place new orders, but because it's not dealing with real
customers, it can't evaluate how well Bell Atlantic actually fills those
orders," Giesy said. "Actually filling the orders is a fundamental piece
of a working operations support system, because that's the piece customers
see - installation of service.
"Our side-by-side testing, done in concert with KPMG's evaluation,
should speed Bell Atlantic's ability to build a fully functioning system
by allowing it to root out real-world problems sooner rather than later,"
Giesy said. "That, in turn, will allow competition to occur more quickly
in the Commonwealth."
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.
For a copy of the filing, please contact Elena French at 914-312-6144
or Elena.French@mci.com.
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