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To: idefer who wrote (2541)	6/6/1998 2:49:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 11568

Now everyone is jumping in to "review" the deal: WorldCom's Proposed MCI Buy to Be Reviewed by Canadian Agency Bloomberg News June 6, 1998, 9:39 a.m. PT Ottawa, June 6 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's Competition Bureau will review WorldCom Inc.'s proposed US$41.8 billion purchase of MCI Communications Corp., the Financial Post reported. In Canada, WorldCom offers Internet services, while MCI owns Ottawa-based Systemhouse, a computer-services company, and has links to Canada's major long-distance companies. Cecile Suchal, a spokesman for the regulator, declined to say what specifically the bureau was investigating about the proposal between the two U.S. companies, the newspaper said. European Union Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert yesterday said he will move to block the purchase unless the companies offer remedies to assure they won't dominate Internet backbone services. (FP 6/6 P3 www.canoe.ca/fp) --Timothy Moore in Vancouver (604) 331-1310 through the Toronto

To: idefer who wrote (2541)	6/6/1998 3:03:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

Financial Post - Ottawa reviews proposal for U.S. telecom merger Saturday, June 6, 1998 By PETER MORTON Washington Bureau Chief The Financial Post Ottawa's competition watchdog has launched its own probe into the controversial plan for the US$37-billion merger of U.S. telephone giants WorldCom Inc. and MCI Communications Corp. The Competition Bureau confirmed Friday it is looking at the impact in Canada of the merger between the U.S. long-distance and Internet companies. "We're aware of it and we're looking at it," said bureau spokeswoman Cecile Suchal. "We're reviewing it under the Competition Act to see if there are competitive questions." Antitrust concerns have been raised both in the U.S. and Europe about the dominance of WorldCom-MCI, especially in providing Internet service on both continents. The European Union's antitrust watchdog said Friday MCI's pledge to sell off its Internet backbone -- the part that moves electronic traffic around the world -- to Britain's Cable & Wireless PLC did not go far enough. "What was offered did not complete the requirement," Karel Van Miert told Washington's Economic Strategy Institute. MCI said Cable & Wireless offered US$625 million for its high-capacity backbone service that links retail Internet companies to one another. Van Miert said the EU and the U.S. Department of Justice met Thursday with WorldCom and MCI executives to see whether the two would "make a better offer." The merger must also be approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. "Time is running out," Van Miert said. The two antitrust agencies are expected to make a ruling on the merger by the mid-July. Jackson, Miss.-based WorldCom, founded by Edmonton-born Bernie Ebbers, outbid rival British Telecom PLC for MCI, which has its base in Washington. Suchal would not say what the Competition Bureau was probing, or whether it mirrored concerns that WorldCom-MCI would dominate the Internet market. "It's too soon to say," she said. In Canada, WorldCom offers Internet service through its UUNet Technologies division, while MCI owns Ottawa-based Systemhouse and has alliances with Stentor, the Canadian long-distance consortium. UUNet is WorldCom's Internet backbone. MCI had hoped to placate regulators with the sale of its Internet switching service while holding on to a much smaller retail Internet service. Prior to the sale, Washington's Economic Policy Institute said the merger would give the new company at least 68% of the Internet market, something WorldCom and MCI dispute. MCI spokesman Jim Munroe said yesterday he could not say whether MCI would sweeten its offers to sell its Internet service, but he noted that the sale of MCI's Internet service does not give WorldCom increased capacity. "There's nothing that gives WorldCom Internet capacity that it doesn't have today," he said. WorldCom and MCI each carries about 20% of the U.S. Internet traffic. Both are also major providers in Europe. Rival GTE Corp. and Sprint Corp. also said MCI's selloff does not go far enough. Canada's Competition Bureau also said it has signed an agreement with the EC that is expected to make it easier for the two to launch joint investigations into mergers or other antitrust cases. The agreement, to be finalized next year, is similar to a 1995 Canada-U.S. pact that allows sharing some information. canoe.ca