MCI wants bankruptcy extension

Telecommunications carrier MCI, due to emerge from bankruptcy Feb. 28, has requested a 60-day extension to finalize its financial filings, company officials said.

Completing its Securities and Exchange Commission filings is the last significant task the company has to complete before it can emerge. If the U.S. Bankruptcy Court grants the extension, MCI could emerge from bankruptcy at any time during the 60-day period.

When MCI does emerge from bankruptcy, it will have given creditors equity in the company in exchange for eliminating $36 billion in debt, and will have about $4 billion in cash, said Jerry Edgerton, senior vice president of MCI Government Markets.

"We are extremely competitive now," Edgerton said in a Feb. 11 statement. "We never lost any momentum. It was hard to keep momentum because we've been beat up a lot, but we continued to support the customers."