MCI Gets Huge Merrill Lynch Deal

MCI Communications has won its biggest contract ever, a five-year, $150-million deal to provide Merrill Lynch & Co. with a worldwide network for voice and data communications, the companies said Tuesday.

The deal is the latest in a series of such links, as big phone customers turn over the construction of state-of-the-art international networks to the big phone companies.

General Electric said last week it had selected American Telephone & Telegraph, British Telecom and France Telecom to build the first phase of its international network. The value of that deal was not disclosed.

Merrill Lynch said it expects to reduce its costs by more than $100 million over the five-year period.

The system will be built around Merrill Lynch’s existing backbone of private lines.

The choice of MCI culminates a process that began last September when MCI asked for proposals from the three main long-distance companies, MCI, AT&T; and US Sprint Communications.