BellSouth Enters Bidding for Sprint

BellSouth Corp. has entered the bidding for Sprint Corp., the nation’s third-largest long-distance company, seeking to pry it from MCI WorldCom Inc., which has come close to a deal in ongoing merger talks with Sprint, sources with knowledge of the talks said. BellSouth’s entry complicates MCI’s efforts to complete a deal that would stand as the latest in a series of monster mergers that have reshaped the telecommunications industry. MCI has come to see Westwood, Kan.-based Sprint as the potential long-sought fix to a glaring deficiency--its lack of presence in the fast-growing world of wireless telephone service. Sprint boasts Sprint PCS, a national all-digital cellular network. An executive with one of the companies said rumors of Atlanta-based BellSouth’s interest in acquiring Sprint have been heard widely since the spring, when the former head of Sprint’s long-distance division moved to a senior position at BellSouth. BellSouth did not return phone calls Sunday night, and a Sprint spokesman declined to comment. In addition to its long-distance and wireless business, Sprint owns a sizable data network and several local phone systems in the Southeast, which would be of interest to BellSouth. An analyst suggested BellSouth and MCI could wind up splitting Sprint, with MCI claiming the cellular network and BellSouth walking away with the local companies and the data network.