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October 5, 1999
		MCI WorldCom has agreed to buy Sprint for $115 billion, making it the largest corporate takeover in history. Following this background report, three experts look at what the merger will mean for the telecommunications industry.

Dec. 1, 1998: Viacom and CBS announce plans to merge. Nov. 26, 1998: The Justice Department investigates Visa and Mastercard. Nov. 24, 1998: AOL and Netscape merge Nov. 12, 1998: Federal prosecutors claim Microsoft has engaged in monopolistic business practices. May 26, 1998: Is the recent wave of mergers good for America? May 11, 1998: SBC and Ameritech join forces. May 7, 1998: Diamler Benz acquires Chrysler. April 13, 1998: A look at a series of big bank mergers.     MCI WorldCom Sprint	TERENCE SMITH: The announcement of today's telecommunications mega merger-- the biggest ever-- came at a news conference in New York. BERNARD EBBERS, CEO, MCI WorldCom: I'm happy to announce today that MCI-WorldCom and Sprint have made a definitive agreement to merge our two companies. The new company will have the people, the technology and the will required to lead our industry through the opportunities of great change -- change from a voice-dominated business to a data-dominated business; change from narrow band to broad band; change to every aspect of our society created by the Internet and E-commerce and carried over communications networks. TERENCE SMITH: The deal was completed last night following an eleventh-hour bid from another telecom giant, Bell South. The new company will be called WorldCom, and it combines two of the biggest players in the telecommunications industry. Mississippi-based MCI-WorldCom is the larger of the two. It was formed just last year when WorldCom, founded as a small long distance provider in 1983, took over MCI, a major competitor in the long distance market. Today MCI-WorldCom counts $30 billion in annual revenues, 22 million customers and operations in more than 65 countries. Missouri-based Sprint traces its roots back to 1899 and the Brown Telephone Company in Abilene, Kansas. It counted $17 billion in revenue last year and 20 million business and residential customers. SPOKESMAN: It's just 5 cents a minute, every minute, every Sunday and 10 cents a minute all week long. SPOKESPERSON: Cash back with Sprint. SPOKESMAN: It pays to stay.
	A combined giant in telecommunications
	TERENCE SMITH: The merger comes amid an intense bidding war, conducted in part over the airwaves, for long distance customers. AT&T, the largest long distance company, controls about 45 percent of the market. The new company, combining the 2nd and 3rd largest long distance companies, is expected to control about 35 percent of the market. Going into today's deal, MCI wanted to beef up its wireless telephone service, and according to industry analysts, sprint's fast-growing national wireless phone division, known as Sprint PCS, was a major selling point. Sprint PCs has four million subscribers. BERNARD EBBERS: We see wireless, mobile wireless, as a very fast growing section of the business. We certainly think it is an advantage for us to able to offer that type of service. TERENCE SMITH: Sprint is also a major player on the Internet, providing a network of hookups that other companies use to get to the Internet. Today's deal is the latest of 28 major mergers since Congress enacted the 1996 telecommunications law, which sought to ease regulations. Among the biggest mergers, WorldCom's own acquisition of MCI in 1998; Bell Atlantic- NYNEX, Bell Atlantic acquiring fellow Baby Bell NYNEX in 1997; and AT&T purchasing cable giant telecommunications Inc. earlier this year. WILLIAM ESREY, CEO, Sprint: Together Sprint and WorldCom are poised to provide customers with the broadest possible array of services ever assembled in one company. It's what regulators and legislators wanted when they drafted the Telecommunications Act -- competition across the board. TERENCE SMITH: MCI-WorldCom's $115 billion bid for Sprint must still pass muster with federal regulators. And today Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard issued a statement in which he raised questions about the deal. How can this be good for consumers? The parties will bear a heavy burden to show how consumers would be better off.