TRAC Urges DOJ to Take Immediate Action on MCI WorldCom-Sprint Merger
Consumer Group Worries About the Absence of Competition and Innovation During Review Process
Washington, DC
The proposed Sprint - MCI WorldCom merger raises serious concerns for consumers, according to Samuel A. Simon, Chairman of the Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC). In a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, TRAC urged the DeparTMent of Justice to assure that Sprint and MCI WorldCom remain "aggressive and innovative" competitors while their merger is under review. TRAC also noted the negative effects for consumers of reduced competition in the long distance and Internet backbone markets, should the merger be approved.
"It is our experience that every major innovation in long distance pricing has come from either MCI WorldCom or Sprint," Simon said. He noted that since the April edition of TeleTipsTM -- TRAC's long distance rates comparisons -- was published, both MCI WorldCom and Sprint have announced new pricing plans. First, Sprint offered residential customers Nickel Nights. MCI WorldCom countered with two new plans called Everyday and Everyday Plus.
"What is clear," Simon added, "is that AT&T has always followed these innovations, they have never led them. TRAC can't imagine that competition and innovation will continue in the long distance market when there are only two major carriers-AT&T and WorldCom."
The Telecommunications Research and Action Center is a 20 year old Washington, DC based consumer group that educates and advocates for the interest of residential and small business telephone consumers. It is the publisher of TeleTipsTM, which compares long distance rates for residential and small business consumers. TRAC sponsors an Internet site http://www.trac.org/ that allows users to do real time rate comparisons for long distance service.
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