GTE Files Suit to Block WorldCom's Acquisition of MCI, WSJ Says
Bloomberg News
May 8, 1998, 1:47 a.m. PT
Washington, May 8 (Bloomberg) -- GTE Corp., one of the
largest local phone companies in the U.S., has sued in a federal
court to block WorldCom Inc.'s planned acquisition of MCI
Communications Corp., the on-line edition of the Wall Street
Journal reported. The lawsuit, filed yesterday in Washington,
D.C., district court, seeks to block the acquisition on the
grounds that it would damage competition in the long-distance
communications industry and that it would give MCI-WorldCom
unfair dominance over the primary long-distance networks that
carry Internet information worldwide, the paper said. ''This is
a classic red-herring tactic by GTE, which is determined to keep
WorldCom and MCI from opening up their local monopoly market to
competition,'' said an MCI spokesman, who said the acquisition
would increase competition in all markets, the paper reported.
On March 10, GTE, International Business Machines Corp.,
Sprint Corp. and PSINet Inc. confirmed the U.S. Justice
Department subpoenaed information about their Internet services
for its review of WorldCom's $41.8 billion acquisition of MCI.
(WSJ 5/08 www.wsj.com)
--Julie Crust in the London newsroom (44 171) 330 7368/sg |
