It has taken a year, but yesterday, the US Justice Department finally approved the alliance between British Telecommunications Plc and MCI Communications Inc, and the two formally launched their joint venture company. The company, named Concert, will sell speech, data and video telecommunications services to multi-national companies, from bases in London, Paris, Sydney Tokyo and Cary, North Carolina. The Justice Department also approved British Telecom’s application to pay $4,300m for a 20% stake in MCI. Justice simultaneously filed a lawsuit and proposed consent decree resolving the antitrust concerns from the agreement.
