WASHINGTON, D.C. ­ Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department's Antitrust Division issued the following statement today after WorldCom and Sprint announced they were abandoning their merger plans:

"We welcome this decision to abandon the transaction. The merger would have led to higher prices, lower service quality, and less innovation for millions of American consumers and businesses. America's consumers and businesses will continue to reap the benefits of competition in the long distance, internet backbone and data network services businesses."