London, Oct 6: British Telecom is planning to mount an aggressive campaign against WorldCom's $30 billion paper offer for American long distance telecoms group MCI, the Guardian newspaper said on Monday.

BT management believe the offer by WorldCom is highly vulnerable to a downturn in the stockmarket and could be held up for a year by regulatory interference in both Britain and the United States, the newspaper said.

The newspaper said that BT believes, on the other hand, that its own combination with MCI Communications Corp will be fully in place by January 1998.

Even if BT finds itself gazumped by WorldCom's bid for MCI the British group believes it has a good chance of rapidly putting together an alternative with America's AT&T, the article said.

BT'S Plan to merge with MCI was trumped by a surprise paper offer launched by WorldCom last week.

WorldCom's share-swap offer, valuing MCI at $41.50 a share, easily topped BT's revised $34 a share merger deal for the 80 per cent of MCI it does not own.

The WorldCom-MCI deal will create the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States after AT&T. (Reuter)

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.