SOUTHWESTERN BELL SCORES FAILING GRADE, REPORT SAYS

AUSTIN, Texas, August 2, 1999 - An interim report card on
Southwestern Bell gives the local telephone monopoly a failing grade
when it comes to dealing with its competitors, MCI WorldCom told the
Texas Public Utility Commission in comments filed today. In a recent,
interim report by Telcordia (formerly Bellcore), Southwestern Bell
failed half of the time in a limited test of its ability to hand off
phone lines to MCI WorldCom.
Although the report card gave passing grades on other portions of
the test of Southwestern Bell's operations support systems (OSS),
MCI WorldCom urged the Commission to look at both Southwestern
Bell's failings on the test and the real world experiences of the
companies that are wanting to provide residential local service in
Texas. MCI WorldCom also repeated its call that the test of
Southwestern Bell be more open to all participants so that new local
phone competitors can understand the cause of these system problems and
provide high-quality, reliable competitive local phone service in
Texas.

Operations support systems are the automated, electronic database
and information systems and manual processes that Southwestern Bell
uses to serve its customers. In a competitive market, OSS also includes
the critical computer interfaces and manual processes that allow
competing local phone companies to link with Southwestern Bell's
information systems to enable competitors to handle new customer
service orders, installations, repair calls and billing functions.

The Telcordia interim report comes on the wake of real-world
problems MCI WorldCom has experienced in delivering local telephone
service using Southwestern Bell's network. Within the past year and
a half, MCI WorldCom has filed with the Texas PUC two separate local
service complaints - one dealing with installation of service via the
"local loop,'' the "last mile'' of phone line
running to a customer's location - and another dealing with service
using a method known as combined network elements, or platform.

In the interim OSS report, Southwestern Bell repeatedly failed to
reliably deliver the local loop, which mirrors MCI WorldCom's
experiences from last year. In April 1998, MCI WorldCom filed a
complaint with the Texas PUC bringing to the PUC's attention many
of the same problems detailed in the interim OSS report. Simply put,
Southwestern Bell continues to fail to properly hand off the line to
potential competitors, resulting in a multitude of service interruption
problems.

"More than a year later, here we are again - same problem,
different day," said Neal Larsen, regional director for MCI
WorldCom Public Policy. "If Southwestern Bell cannot seamlessly
hand off the line so we can connect the customer, local competition is
in serious jeopardy in Texas."

These ongoing tests of Southwestern Bell's OSS will ensure that
Texans one day will be able to switch local phone carriers as quickly
and conveniently as they switch long distance carriers today. MCI
WorldCom, AT&T, NorthPoint and Allegiance Telecom are participating
in different portions of the test. But until the Telcordia report was
released on July 22, each competitive carrier was blind to the test
results, denying each the technical insights that the system's
failures could provide.

"What's troubling is the Telcordia report still doesn't
identify the real reasons behind Southwestern Bell's failing
grade," Larsen said. "It's like a doctor informing you
that you're sick but won't tell you what's wrong or how to
cure it.''

As the only national competitive local phone carrier to offer
residential local phone service on a statewide basis, MCI WorldCom
brings to the table its real-world experience in cracking open the Bell
Atlantic-New York local phone monopoly. Since launching competitive
local phone service there last December, more than 120,000 consumers
have switched to MCI WorldCom.

"We may be a new kid on the block for local phone service, but
we're learning more and more each day and want to share that
knowledge to break open the Bell monopoly in Texas," Larsen
explained. "That's why it's imperative that the Commission
learn from our unique experience and use real-world market knowledge to
help local phone competition succeed in Texas."

Because that experience has been so valuable in making local
competition work in New York, MCI WorldCom also urged the Texas PUC to
also take this type of information into account in determining whether
Southwestern Bell's OSS works. In New York, MCI WorldCom offers
residential local phone service using combined network elements leased
from the Bell Atlantic-controlled local telephone network. In Texas,
Telcordia is testing AT&T's platform interface to Southwestern
Bell's OSS.

Still, MCI WorldCom has horror stories of its own to tell after
attempting to serve residential local phone customers in Texas using
combined network elements leased from Southwestern Bell. In a Houston
test a year ago, 85% of the customers lost dialtone, experienced
cross-talk, had their directory assistance listings disappear and more,
which again prompted MCI WorldCom to file a complaint with the PUC
against the Bell monopoly.

"Our practical business and technical experiences can only help
bring this process to a successful close. But the process must be
refined to do so," Larsen said. "MCI WorldCom is prepared to
work hand-in-hand with the Commission and all parties to help bring
about real competition and real choice in Texas for local phone
service."

MCI WorldCom is a global leader in communications services with 1998
revenues of more than $30 billion and established operations in over 65
countries encompassing the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific
regions. MCI WorldCom is a premier provider of facilities-based and
fully integrated local, long distance, international and Internet
services. MCI WorldCom's global networks, including its
state-of-the-art pan-European network and transoceanic cable systems,
provide end-to-end high-capacity connectivity to more than 40,000
buildings worldwide. MCI WorldCom is traded on NASDAQ under WCOM. For
more information on MCI WorldCom, visit the World Wide Web at
http://www.wcom.com.