MCI: U S West Seeks Refuge in Federal Court from PUC Probe

Bell's Action Further Delays Coloradans' Benefits of Local Competition; Defies

Pro-Consumer Policies of State Legislature and Utility Regulators

DENVER, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- MCI today joined consumer advocates, public interest groups and other communications companies denouncing U S West's effort to use the U.S. District Court in Denver to further delay Coloradans' right to enjoy the savings, higher quality, innovative new services and freedom of choice promised by local phone competition.

In its request for a temporary restraining order, U S West questions the authority of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to conduct a public hearing to determine if U S West's Operations Support Systems (OSS), called Interconnect Mediated Access or IMA, are in compliance with PUC directives and federal law. That hearing, originally scheduled to begin today, is now postponed pending a decision by the court.

As required by the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, IMA is supposed to enable new competitors to instantly share customer information, process orders and billing, and handle maintenance and repair requests via fully automated links with U S West -- vital business functions new local market entrants need in order to fairly compete and provide reliable service to their customers.

"IMA is an absolute failure," said Bill Levis, regional director for MCI Public Policy. "This hearing is critical because it will allow the PUC to finally pass judgment on IMA, compelling U S West to provide a better system that will finally permit Coloradans to freely choose their local phone carrier."

The failure of IMA has forced MCI to twice delay its plans to offer competitive local service to residential and small business customers in Colorado. Consumer advocates, public interest groups and competitors have publicly challenged IMA as inadequate. Now through its federal court action, U S West hopes to prevent the PUC from confirming IMA's failure.

U S West's motivation to bar the hearing is readily apparent, based upon testimony previously presented in the case by Gary A. Klug, a senior professional engineer employed by the PUC:

"IMA has been portrayed by USWC (U S West Communications) as a "gateway" into the USWC Legacy OSS systems. I think the term 'restrictive bottleneck' is a more appropriate descriptor for the IMA system. It chokes the entry, restricts access to needed information, adds inefficient manual processes that are time consuming and introduces the likelihood of errors and delays in the CLEC's (competitive local exchange carrier's) provisioning of residence and small business service."

This assessment led commissioners to preliminarily find that the use of IMA by competing phone local companies could result in "irreparable harm" to consumers.

Compounding the challenge for new competitors in Colorado is the fact that U S West is now nearly a full year past the Telecom Act's deadline requiring that the Bell monopolies deliver these critical systems to competitors on Jan. 1, 1997. To date, not one of the five regional Bell operating companies (U S West, SBC, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth or Ameritech) has successfully met that federal mandate.

U S West's decision to take this legal action in Colorado is stunning, because it also runs in stark contrast to the policy position of the state legislature, one of the leading pro-consumer, pro-competition bodies of its kind in the nation. Colorado lawmakers passed one of the earliest local phone competition endorsing statutes in the U.S. in 1995, a full year before Congress approved the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

MCI believes this action by U S West is due to Colorado's position as the bellwether state on the OSS issue in the Bell company's operating territory. The Colorado PUC's decision could have region-wide affect because U S West offers the same system in all of its 14 states.

"U S West can run, but it can't hide," said Levis. "After unsuccessfully appealing this issue to both the FCC and the PUC, U S West is running to the federal court as a desperate last resort to deny consumer choice and maintain

 its monopoly.   MCI will use every possible resource at its disposal to protect the rights of consumers in every state U S West serves." 

MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., offers the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of communication services. With 1996 revenues of $18.5 billion, MCI ranks as one of the world's largest telecommunications companies. MCI is also the world's second largest carrier of international traffic and operates one of the world's most advanced Internet networks. Since its founding in 1968, MCI has been a leader in bringing the benefits of long distance competition to businesses and consumers and is now leading the charge to open U.S. local calling markets to competition. On November 10, 1997, MCI announced a definitive merger agreement with WorldCom, Inc. to form a new company called MCI WorldCom.

SOURCE MCI Communications Corp.

     -0-                             11/17/97 

/CONTACT: Barbara Gibson of MCI State Policy Communications, 303-390-6547, or 800-644-NEWS, e-mail, barbara.gibson@mci.com, Les Kumagai of MCI State Policy Communications, 213-239-2388, 800-644-NEWS, or e-mail, les.kumagai@mci.com/

(MCIC USW)

CO: MCI Communications Corp.; U S West ST: Colorado IN: TLS SU: LEG

MS -- DCM068 -- 6091 11/17/97 18:29 EST http://www.prnewswire.com