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

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (2514)	5/31/1998 3:36:00 PM
From: SDR-SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

There are two additional reasons why, in my opinion, the MCI backbone divestiture seems to be more sensible than other solutions to the theoretical internet anti-competitiveness problem: First, Worldcom/UUnet have a very successful backbone operation, but do not have the internet sales/marketing personnel to really move the internet retail/wholesale business sales. They therefore see one of the more important values of MCI's internet-related business as being its sales and marketing operations. Therefore if it were necessary to dispose of a piece of the MCI internet business to satisfy regulators, the high level backbone part of the MCI would appear to be much more dispensable and the retail/wholesale sales and marketing part of the MCI internet operation, much more keepable for the the overall strategy. Secondly, John Sidgemore and the UUnet-spawned management people that are now part of Worldcom, are all very key personal and personnel elements to the growth strategy of the combined WCOM/MCI organization. Therefore, the decision to divest MCI's backbone operation, rather than WCOM's backbone operation (UUNet) would appear to not only be sensible, but essential to the company's ultimate plan, given that one or the other must go to satisfy regulators. GTE and similar others will never be happy with any solution proposed by Worldcom or acceptable to the various regulators, other than something that would totally handicap the company from its projected expansion and make it into a non-competitor. Company's like GTE know they cannot battle successfully with modern, aggressive and well-managed companies in the market place, and immediately fall back upon their historical propensity to regulate and litigate competition out of existence, rather than competing. Above are clearly not documented facts, but my opinion. Steve