The Telecom Marriage Is Off

WorldCom and Sprint called off their planned $129 billion telecommunications merger Thursday in the face of extreme opposition from regulators in the United States and Europe.

In a statement, the companies said that "the set of conditions ultimately demanded by the U.S. Department of Justice would compromise the customer and financial benefits of the merger."

Late last month, Attorney General Janet Reno announced the Justice Department was suing to block the deal. WorldCom and Sprint then pulled their merger application in Europe.

The Justice Department contended that the merger of the second- and third-largest long-distance carriers would leave millions of Americans paying more for less service.

Mario Monti, competition commissioner for the European commission, had said the merged company would sharply reduce competition for Internet connections.

Both companies had been widely expected to drop their merger proposal, and in fact had been hinting at it for the past several days.

At a wireless communications conference Tuesday in New Orleans, WorldCom president and chief executive Bernard Ebbers was asked if he had anything to report on the merger and whether it was still moving forward.

"No," Ebbers said. "I don't think there is much left to discuss."

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