Moving forward at MCI

Like many companies in the middle of bankruptcy, there are good days and not so good days. Last week MCI, formerly WorldCom, reported its monthly earnings to the Southern District of New York Federal Bankruptcy court showing falling revenue for February and March.

The carrier’s revenue for February was $2 billion, which is 6.1% lower than its revenue in January, which totaled $2.2 billion. Although its revenue for March increased 3.5% from its February revenue to $2.1 billion, it still falls short of its January numbers.

Last month, when the service provider filed its plan of reorganization with the courts, MCI stated that it expects revenue for 2003 to total approximately $24 billion. So far, MCI is on track.

But on track means revenue that is about $10 billion lower than its most recent annual figures.

MCI has been trying to look toward the future of the company and is trying not to dwell on the scandal and shoddy management that got it into this predicament in the first place.

The company also launched its product strategy for 2003 that includes a push on converged and VPN offerings for business users. MCI has to come up with a way to win new business and focus on services that could lower access costs and those services that rely on the carrier’s IP infrastructure may be a good way to go.

The carrier says it will not compete on price, but on the quality of its offerings, network and customer service. Again, that’s a good plan, but one that so far is proving difficult to execute based on its falling revenue.

MCI may not see an uptake of new customers until it’s actually out of bankruptcy. Users don’t like to sign big contracts with seemingly unstable companies. And clearly MCI is not planning for big spikes in monthly revenue with its yearly projection of $24 billion.