Dawn of the Dead: telcos are menaced by zombie MCI

WorldCom (now MCI) is now virtually debt-free, thanks to the fact that they’ve declared bankrupcty and the creditors own the company. According to today’s Wall Street journal, investors believe that the telcos face some tough decisions now that MCI is no longer shackled by a need to price its service based on the cost of its past bad investments. [Subscribers only, alas!]

“We’re appalled,” says Randall Stephenson, SBC’s chief financial officer. “After committing massive fraud, WorldCom emerges out of bankruptcy with most of its debt wiped out.” Verizon Chairman Ivan Seidenberg said at a news conference Monday that, in WorldCom’s case, “crime pays.”

Yeah, right. Worldcom’s shareholders made the ultimate sacrifice for all that borrowing and fraud. Don’t expect Verizon’s and SBC’s shareholders to do the same any time soon.

I can’t wait until creditors get control of one of the wireless carriers.

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