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To: dougjn who wrote (2526)	6/5/1998 2:28:00 PM
From: Caxton Rhodes	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 11568

EU official "rather confident" MCI deal can work WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - European Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert said Friday he was ''rather confident'' the European Commission can ''sort things out'' on WorldCom Inc.'s (WCOM - news) proposed purchase of MCI Communications Corp. (MCIC - news). But Van Miert said the companies must do more to divest facilities used to carry Internet traffic in order to resolve matters. ''I'm rather confident we will be able to sort things out,'' he said, answering a question after a speech to the Economic Strategy Institute. But Van Miert also said the companies had not done enough yet: ''I hope the companies concerned will reflect on that and make a better offer.'' Van Miert said time was running out for the companies to make a new offer as the EU deadline is just a few weeks away. ''Yesterday, the Department of Justice and our officials told the companies concerned that the offer as it was being registered was not completely meeting our concerns,'' Van Miert said. He said the EU had told the companies originally that WorldCom could meet the commission's concerns by divesting itself of UUNet, a large Internet backbone provider, but the company decided against it. He reiterated his view that whatever solution the companies offer, it must be checked with competitors. MCI has proposed a $625 million sale to Cable & Wireless Communications Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: CW.L). It would include all of MCI's Internet backbone assets and traffic and MCI's Internet Service Provider business. MCI would become a reseller of Cable & Wireless Internet Services. MCI has 1,300 domestic and international Internet Service Provider (ISP) customers in 76 countries. The company said its business has $220 million in projected revenue and is growing rapidly.