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Technology Stocks : WCOM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen who wrote (5212)	10/6/1999 11:29:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

Computerworld article on the consumer's perspective in the WCOM/FON merger:- MCI WorldCom Eats Sprint; Customers Hungry Outage problems left business customers with a bad taste; they hope Sprint will improve MCI WorldCom's service. by Matt Hamblen, Computerworld October 5, 1999, 6:40 p.m. PT MCI WorldCom's breathtaking deal announced today to purchase Sprint for $129 billion wowed the financial world, but some business customers say they are less than impressed. Some business customers are still stinging from an MCI WorldCom frame relay outage that lasted for several days in August and left them infuriated with MCI WorldCom's customer response and refunds. And others say they hope Sprint's reputation for good customer service will somehow rub off on the new entity, to be called WorldCom. Sprint is "very excited about the opportunities for business customers" that the buyout should provide, says Kevin Brauer, president of the Sprint Business division. He won't comment on user evaluations of MCI WorldCom's handling of the frame outage, and says the two companies are still discussing integrating their frame networks. Brian Moir, counsel for a large business users group, the International Communications Association, says many businesses were hurt financially by the outage, which he said was handled poorly by Ebbers and MCI WorldCom. "There was a stark difference in the MCI WorldCom handling of its outage compared to that of AT&T's outage a year earlier," Moir says. "AT&T was friendly and MCI WorldCom was not." Moir said the kinds of problems that led to the frame outage are only compounded with a larger network integration effort with Sprint. While many analysts talked about how the Sprint purchase would help the new company provide wireless services bundled with data and local and long-distance voice service, Moir says that is "only important from a Wall Street perspective for consumers and not for businesses." MCI WorldCom is confident that the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department will grant regulatory approval for the merger, according to MCI WorldCom chief executive officer Bernard J. Ebbers. Moir and several analysts agree. "The FCC will make them give up the Sprint Internet pieces of the business, but with that and a few tweaks, it will happen," Moir says. The ICA will protest the buyout of Sprint if the new entity somehow ties itself to any of the Baby Bells in long-distance services, Moir says. As it is, businesses will have only two long-distance carriers to choose from should the Sprint buyout go through, he notes. The assessment that MCI WorldCom needs to improve customer service to businesses was shared by several analysts, including Ken Hyers, a wireless analyst at Cahners In-Stat Group. "MCI WorldCom is notoriously closed-mouth about everything and Sprint is good at communicating to customers, so I hope some of that ability brushes off on WorldCom," Hyers says. "If you are a communications company, then communicate," he adds. pcworld.com:80/pcwtoday/article/0,1510,13145,00.html