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To: SteveG who wrote (5057)	9/27/1999 1:43:00 PM
From: Fred Levine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

IMO, it is premature to evaluate the impact of the potential merger until we know the terms. It could be a steal or a rip-off depending upon the price. IMO, I love the concept, if the terms are reasonable. fred

To: SteveG who wrote (5057)	9/27/1999 4:42:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 11568

Cable & Wirelss suit could affect MCI, Sprint deal By David Lawsky WASHINGTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - If authorities were to rely on the experience of Cable & Wireless Plc <CW.L>, MCI WorldCom Inc.'s <WCOM.O> actions last year could come back to haunt it in any proposed acquisition of Sprint Corp. <FON.N>. MCI WorldCom and Sprint are in merger talks, industry sources have said. If they got together, experts said regulators would likely take a long, hard look at their combined strength in Internet "backbones," the high-capacity fiber systems that power the Internet. Regulators might require divestiture of one or more Internet backbones, as they did when MCI and WorldCom merged last year. And there's the rub. MCI promised the European Commission in a formal "undertaking" -- the European equivalent of a U.S. "consent decree" -- to divest its backbone to the British firm Cable & Wireless. But in a suit filed last spring in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., Cable & Wireless alleged that MCI WorldCom violated its agreement "by materially failing to provide necessary personnel in various key areas." The suit has since been sealed, but Reuters obtained a copy before that happened. It shows that Cable & Wireless alleged that "MCI WorldCom should have transferred 324 sales personnel ... but offered only 41." Cable & Wireless charged that MCI WorldCom "also failed to provide numerous necessary personnel in network management, engineering, trouble management, dial engineering and the network operations and security areas." Neither MCI nor Cable & Wireless had anything to say about the matter Monday. "We don't comment on matters of pending litigation," said MCI WorldCom spokeswoman Barbara Gibson. "And we definitely don't have comment on rumors relating to a merger." George Cary of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton of Washington, counsel to Cable & Wireless, also had no comment. So far the European Commission has taken no action on behalf of the British firm. And the Justice Department, which relied on the European Commission's findings to clear the MCI/WorldCom merger, has also done nothing. But if MCI WorldCom and Sprint wanted to merge, the Justice Department and European Commission would be taking an entirely new look at the two firms. And experts say that past performance would certainly be a factor. "If you have not paid your debts to (the European Commission) on the last deal, you could very easily find yourself dealing with a very hostile group," said Stephen Axinn, of the boutique antitrust law firm Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider in New York. Axinn said he has no knowledge of the merit -- or lack of merit -- of the Cable & Wireless suit, but if there were merit, then MCI WorldCom would be well advised to act to correct the situation. "If they have unfinished business that the (EC) agrees is unfinished, they better clear it up," he said. biz.yahoo.com