09/25 17:08 MCI WorldCom to announce new services - sources
NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - MCI WorldCom Inc. <WCOM.O> plans
to announce as early as Monday new products and services that will allow
customers to transmit voice and data traffic from start to finish on the company's
own network, industry sources said.
MCI WorldCom declined to comment.
The announcements would be the first to come from the new MCI WorldCom,
the company created by the $40 billion merger of MCI Communications Corp.
and WorldCom Inc. That deal closed September 14 and combined the nation's
No. 2 and No. 4 long distance companies.
Thes new services would take advantage of MCI WorldCom's so-called
"local-to-global-to-local network," sources said.
In North America, MCI WorldCom has a 45,000-mile fiber optic long distance
network and over 100 local city networks with direct connection to more than
30,000 office buildings.
The company also has facilities internationally and has a 50-percent ownership
stake in two high-capacity trans-Atlantic undersea cables.
Since the combined company has its own local and long distance facilities, it
does not have to rely on incumbent phone monopolies to carry part of its voice
and data traffic.
Typically, a long distance carrier would hand off a phone call from its long
distance network to a local phone company, which would then carry the call
directly to the customer's home or business.
The merged MCI WorldCom, however, can now keep traffic on its own
network the whole time and keep all the revenue.
The new services, expected to be announced Monday, will offer savings for
customers which transmit traffic to other customers on MCI WorldCom's
network, sources said.
The concept is similar, but much broader, than MCI's Friends and Family
campaign, which offered savings to long distance customers who called other
MCI customers, sources said. |
