MCI to Offer Services Accessing Internet : Multimedia: Nation’s No. 2 long-distance phone company is also expected to introduce marketplaceMCI, an electronic shopping mall.

MCI Communications Corp., in a move to compete in the burgeoning on-line services industry, is expected to announce today services for accessing the Internet, the global computer network.

The No. 2 U.S. long-distance company will introduce internetMCI, a portfolio of services that would give customers access to various services available on the Internet, including electronic mail, shopping, and high-speed access to browse through thousands of resources available on computers around the world.

MCI will also introduce marketplaceMCI, an electronic shopping mall, where retailers can sell merchandise to about 25 million Internet users.

The MCI service, which will begin in January, is the latest offering to compete against on-line companies like Prodigy, CompuServe and America Online, as well as other companies that provide direct links to the Internet. InternetMCI will also help MCI increase usage and revenue on its nationwide long-distance network.

“One reason MCI is pursuing this initiative is more and more companies are using the Internet for commerce and obviously . . . that provides minutes on our network,” said an MCI executive, who requested anonymity. “For a communications company, it clearly puts us on the leading edge of the future.”

MCI will charge consumers $49.95 for the Internet software, with access charges starting at $19.95 a month for seven hours of use.

MCI will provide broader access and speed to the Internet’s resources than Prodigy, CompuServe and America Online. The three established on-line services provide limited access to Internet’s libraries of software, statistics, pictures, video clips and music.

To browse the World Wide Web portion of the Internet, popular with on-line retailers, users need high-speed access, which the current on-line services can’t provide.

By introducing internetMCI, the company expects to capitalize on the growth in on-line services industry, which is increasing by about 40% a year in revenue, according to some estimates. MCI expects merchandise retailing on the Internet to exceed $2 billion by the year 2000, up from about $200 million now, the said.

MCI is also working with retailers and information providers to design “storefronts,” or advertisements, for marketplaceMCI when it opens early next year, an MCI executive said. Users will access the storefronts with a click of a computer mouse on a storefront icon or directory.

MCI hopes to be one of the world’s largest carriers of Internet traffic. It now carries more than 40% of U.S. Internet traffic. With internetMCI, the company hopes to take the lead against its long-distance rivals, AT&T; Corp. and Sprint Corp.