Equal footing Bell companies try to squash BT/MCI deal >BY SANDRA GUY, News Editor and CAROLYN HIRSCHMAN, Special to Telephony

MCI is "guilty of hypocrisy" in claiming that its proposed merger with BT would boost competition in the U.S and the U.K., according to four Bell regional holding companies.

Bell Atlantic petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to deny BT's $21 billion takeover of MCI, while three other Bell companies-SBC Communications, Pacific Telesis and BellSouth-jointly argued that requirements for competition in the U.S. are far more stringent than those BT faces overseas.

BT is the sole dominant carrier in the U.K., while the U.S. has seven RHCs seeking to offer long-distance, said Randall Cape, senior counsel for the Pacific Telesis Legal Group. "It seems the competitive state is much better here," he said.

Before the FCC approves the merger, it must conclude that the U.K. has opened its markets to U.S. companies in the same way that the U.S. allows foreign corporations to operate here. At a recent press briefing in Washington, BT and MCI officials said they hope to complete the merger this fall. A decision by the European Commission to OK the deal or to extend its review is imminent, although the FCC and the Department of Justice have no deadline to complete their reviews.

The RHCs argue that the U.K. does not require BT to provide access to unbundled elements of its network to competitors, to make its services available for resale at a wholesale discount or to give competing long-distance companies equal access to its local facilities, as the FCC requires.

MCI has argued that such requirements are critical to opening the local markets in the U.S.

"They can't have it both ways," a Bell Atlantic spokesman said. "They are guilty of hypocrisy at the least, and they know it.

James Barron, BT's corporate relations manager, was indignant. "It's a little bit rich-the [RHCs] complaining about a lack of competition," he said.

More than 175 telecom companies compete in the U.K., he said, and some Bell companies have invested in those rival networks.

Furthermore, the U.K. has no inflated access charges such as those the RHCs collect in the U.S., he said.