Of the US$40 billion-plus in debt the company had when it sought Chapter 11 protection, MCI should have less than US$6 billion on its books when it starts anew. That's more than the US$3.5 to US$4.5 billion it was hoping to end up with, but a fraction of what other companies are carrying – BellSouth Corp., US$14.9 billion; Sprint Corp., US$17.2 billion; AT&T Corp., US$17.4 billion; SBC Communications Inc., US$18.2 billion; Qwest Communications International Inc., US$22.5 billion; and Verizon Communications Inc., US$45.4 billion.