MCI Communications Corp says it will file with the US Federal Communications Commission a request to form a consortium that will seek a licence to build and operate a national Personal Communications Network in the US. Under the MCI proposal, customers would be able to make or receive calls anywhere in the country. MCI is looking to join with others that are technically and financially capable of developing emerging Personal Communications technology and services, said president Daniel Akerson. The company reckons that if it gets the nod next year, commercial service could be available from in 1994. It hopes to jog the Commission’s arm with a forecast that in their first few years of operation, Personal Communications Services operators could create at least as many new jobs as the 35,000 currently employed in the cellular industry. The majority interest in the consortium would be held by companies already providing local Personal Communications Services – MCI would hold a minority stake and be the national manager of the network. MCI also proposed that four that three national consortia be awarded licences, rather than individual companies being awarded them piecemeal, and that there should be a national manager overseeing local operators. It also asked that carriers offering the new service should get the same status as local telephone companies and that equal access to all long distance inter-exchange carriers should be mandated for Personal Communications Services.
