MCI, the second-largest U.S.long-distance telephone company, on Wednesday asked a federal bankruptcy court for two more months to complete its reorganization plan and emerge from bankruptcy.
MCI said it would use the extra time to prepare its financial statements for 2002 and 2003, which must be restated to correct roughly $11 billion in improper accounting.
The company, which filed for bankruptcy in 2002, was scheduled to emerge Feb. 28. MCI said outside of the financial statements it must file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, it had finished "all significant tasks" related to bankruptcy.
When it emerges, MCI will shed the WorldCom Inc. name linked to the largest accounting fraud in U.S. history, along with about $36 billion in debts.
MCI has agreed to pay $750 million in cash and stock to settle fraud charges filed by the SEC. The payments will go to bondholders and shareholders who lost more than $200 billion when the fraud was uncovered.
The company said last month it expects its revenues this year to decline as much as 12 percent from tougher competition and pricing pressure.