MCI Cuts Its Rates, Reveals Service Delays

MCI WorldCom Inc., the No. 2 U.S. long-distance company, said it is offering evening and weekend rates as low as 5 cents a minute, a plan similar to one recently launched by Sprint.

Separately, it said it has suffered service disruptions and traffic delays for four days on its frame relay network, which transmits data at high speeds for businesses. The Clinton, Miss.-based company said the problems began Friday and continued through Monday. The cause was not immediately known.

News of the disruptions caused MCI’s shares to tumble $3.81 on Nasdaq to close at $77.44, their lowest price since early February.

The long-distance carrier said that effective Monday, it is offering a 5-cents-a-minute rate on all residential interstate long-distance calls made between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. and all day Saturday and Sunday. It said the rate cut is the result of the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to lower access charges--those fees long-distance companies pay local phone companies to begin and end long-distance calls.