August 21, 1997


              STATEMENT OF FCC CHAIRMAN REED HUNDT ON
             FCC APPROVAL OF MCI/BRITISH TELECOM MERGER


     The merger between MCI and BT will enhance
competition for American consumers.  

     BT and MCI made important commitments to lower the
US-UK settlement rate to just about the lowest rate in the
world, release key capacity on transatlantic undersea cables, and
abide by the United Kingdom's implementation of the European
Union's directives on equal access.  All these will further
competition on the US-UK route, which is already the world's
most open and competitive international route.

     We have applied the same scrutiny of this merger that
we did in the merger between Bell Atlantic and Nynex.  We
make clear that, whether or not a foreign-owned carrier is
involved in a merger, we will require the merging parties to
demonstrate that the merger will enhance competition.

     Consumers in the United States are already benefitting
significantly from our efforts to make the US-UK and other
international routes more open and competitive.  The settlement
rate that BT will now charge US carriers to terminate their
traffic in the UK is down to only 1/3 of what it was just three
years ago.  As a result, consumers are paying as little as 10-12
cents a minute for calls from the US to UK.  In short, the deal
and the commitments by the companies will help explode the
myth that international calls should be any more expensive than
domestic calls.  We are driving a sharp nail into the coffin of
distance.

                              --FCC--