Business as usual at Irish branch

Worldcom's international operations are not subject to the company's US bankruptcy filing and customers in the Republic should not be affected by a restructuring, WorldCom Ireland said yesterday.

In a move to reassure its 6,000 customers here, WorldCom's Irish subsidiary said it would continue service as normal and was fully funded from its Europe, Middle East and Africa operation.

WorldCom Ireland also said it had not lost any "significant customer" here since news of the company's $3 billion (€2.97 billion) accounting irregularity broke last month.

WorldCom, which employs 180 staff in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, is the third-largest fixed-line telecoms firm in the State after Eircom and Esat BT. Over the past month it has contacted most of its major corporate customers to try to allay concerns about the viability of its telecoms contracts.

WorldCom provides telecom services to some of the biggest Irish firms including RTÉ, Aer Lingus, Ulster Bank and Irish Life & Permanent. But the company's strong US identity and international network has made it popular among multinationals here such as Dell.

The firm also provides services to Government agencies and semi-state bodies. A month before WorldCom admitted it had inflated its profits, the firm secured a lucrative contract from An Post for the supply of voice telecoms services to its branches.

This deal, estimated to be worth up to €2 million over two years to the US firm, will stand regardless of the Chapter 11 filing.

At the time of the accounting disclosure in June, an An Post spokesman told The Irish Times the contract would be kept under review but the State firm would not walk away from deal.

The telecoms firm also provides indirect services to some 20,000 residential customers here served by British-based firm Euphony. Euphony uses WorldCom's network to provide residential customers with heavily discounted telephone calls.

WorldCom is also one of the biggest providers of internet hosting services in the Republic.

It has invested tens of millions of dollars in a state-of-the-art 60,000 sq ft internet data centre in Dublin.

This facility enables WorldCom to provide network co-location facilities and hosting services to Irish and international firms. Companies use these facilities to outsource the management of their information technology systems.

The biggest customers to WorldCom in the Republic are its rivals Eircom and Esat, which sell network capacity to WorldCom. This enables the firm to connect its customers to its domestic and international telecoms network.

WorldCom's operations in the Republic increased revenues to £15.96 million (€20.3 million) during 2000, up from £9.4 million in 1999, according to figures supplied by the firm.

But it is not clear if its operations are currently making a loss. In 1999 the firm lost £1.19 million, according to filings in the Companies Registration Office.