MCI LOCAL SERVICE POISED TO COMPETE AGAINST LOCAL MONOPOLIES; MILWAUKEE CONSUMERS TO BENEFIT FROM A COMPETITIVE LOCAL MARKET

MILWAUKEE, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Milwaukee will be among the first to see local telephone competition as MCI moves aggressively in the wake of the telecommunications bill signed by President Clinton. The bill will allow MCI and other long distance phone companies to challenge the local telephone monopolies on their home turf.

"The gloves are off and we are now free to take on the monopolies head-on," said Nate Davis, chief operating officer for MCImetro, MCI's local service subsidiary. "We now have networks in place and the 'green light' to offer business customers superior service and competitive prices in local as well as long distance calling."

Milwaukee is one of the top 10 cities where MCImetro is now ready to offer local service and where business customers will be given the opportunity to use the new service. MCImetro turned up its local network in Baltimore, Maryland just last week and will start providing local service in Boston, Massachusetts today.

According to MCI officials, Chicago, Detroit, Hartford, Milwaukee, New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Seattle will go online in the next 30 days. MCImetro plans to roll out local service in 14 additional major cities in 1996, bringing the total to 24 by the end of the year.

Network reliability continues to be a major issue for business customers in both local and long distance services, with fiber cuts being a common hazard. MCI has responded to this with an aggressive deployment of advanced technologies, like Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), that greatly increase performance and reliability.

With SONET rings, service can be restored within milliseconds if a fiber cable is cut, allowing for virtually uninterrupted service. All of MCImetro's local city networks are built on SONET rings. According to company officials, this feature alone gives them the edge over local companies that have not converted to SONET.

"In addition to competitive prices, other benefits customers can receive right away include faster upgrades to their service and greater reliability," said Davis. "When you combine the added value of MCI's intelligent network capabilities with local service from MCImetro, the result is an unbeatable package for businesses."

MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's largest and fastest growing diversified communications companies. With annual revenue of more than $15 billion, MCI offers consumers and businesses a broad portfolio of services including long distance, wireless, local access, paging, Internet software and access, information services, outsourcing, business software, advanced global telecommunications services, and music distribution and merchandising.

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/CONTACT: Jim Collins, 1-800-719-3456 or Bernie Tylor, 1-800-644-NEWS, both of MCI/

(MCIC)

CO: MCI ST: Wisconsin IN: TLS SU: LEG

KW -- DCTH032 -- 6831 02/08/96 14:04 EST