Worldcom/MCI Merger: March 13, 1998 Workshop in Washington, DC

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

Worldcom/MCI Merger --  the Impact on the Internet
     March 13, 1998 Washington, DC workshop

On March 13, 1998, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the
Consumer Project on Technology (http://www.cptech.org) will be holding a
workshop on the proposed Worldcom/MCI merger.  The workshop will be held
at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.  People who want to attend
should contact Debbie Goldman by email at debbie@cwa-union.org.  The
Conference organizers expect to put a realaudio version of the workshop
on the Internet after the event.  The focus of the workshop will be on
the Internet backbone market.  Some critics say the merged entity will
control 40 to 60 percent of the Internet backbone market.  Worldcom/MCI
disputes these numbers (in some forums), and says that the entry
barriers are low and the market is growing so fast that this won't give
them too much power in the market for Internet backbone services.  Some
public interest groups, smaller ISPs as well as larger Worldcom/MCI
competitors say that the merger will permit Worldcom/MCI to engage in
anticompetitive practices, or exercise enough power to force changes in
the Internet architecture or pricing.

CPT has a web page on the merger, which contains links comments by CPT
and others in an FCC proceeding on merger (the FCC recently created a
new opportunity for public comment on the merger), and CPT has also set
up an internet discussion list, worldcom-mci-merger@essential.org, to
discuss the merger.  Subscription requests for the list should be sent
to listproc@essential.org, with the message (if your name was Jane Doe): 

sub worldcom-mci-merger Jane Doe

Among the current speakers are:

Morton Bahr, President, Communications Workers of America
Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate
Tony Rutkowski, Center for Next Generation Internet
John Curran, GTE Internet Working
David Holub, Vixie Enterprises (formerly with the Well)
James Love, Consumer Project on Technology
Sue Ashdown, Xmission, Utah Independent Internet Service Providers
Eileen Applebaum, Economic Policy Institute

Worldcom/UUNET - invited
MCI - invited
Bell Atlantic - invited

The conference organizers are interested in an intelligent dialog on
this issue, and are very open to suggestions for speakers or respondents
who are pro, con or on the fence, as long as they know something about
the Internet backbone market.  Many people who are the most
knowledgeable have conflicts of interest, are bound by very tough
nondisclosure agreements, or cannot participate because it would damage
business relationships.

For more information, Contact James Love (202.387.8030, love@cptech.org)
or Debby Goldman (202.434.1194, debby@cwa-union.org).

/
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James Love
Consumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
love@cptech.org | http://www.cptech.org
202.387.8030, fax 202.234.5176