To: Doug Robinson who wrote (79060 ) 6/11/1999 10:05:00 AM From: DanielleC Respond to of 119973
RESTON, Va., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Gabe Battista, Chairman and CEO of TALK.com (Nasdaq: TALK), the nation's largest e-commerce telecommunications company, confirmed today that contractually TALK.com is the exclusive provider of long distance and wireless services on America Online through 2003. Battista commented, "As part of our agreement, we gave AOL the right to bring in non-exclusive partners in July of 2000." He continued, "But regardless of our exclusivity status, TALK.com will continue as a provider of telecommunications services to AOL customers and retain valuable marketing and distribution channels with AOL through 2003 for these services. Any change in our contractual relationship with AOL does not effect our relationship with our AOL/TALK.com customers. If AOL adds other non-exclusive telecom players, TALK.com will save tens of millions of dollars a year and still preserve valuable marketing rights that we need to continue growing our profitable business on AOL." Battista continued, "AOL is a strong partner, a large shareholder and a terrific source of customers for our online business." Relating to its Prodigy announcement today, Battista concluded, "That this is another positive step for TALK.com and expands our leadership position on the internet as the largest provider of e-commerce telecommunication services." Certain of the statements contained herein may be considered forward- looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward- looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and the Company's actual results could differ materially from the Company's expectations. TALK.com is the nation's largest e-commerce telecommunications provider through an exclusive arrangement with America Online, Inc. and utilizes its Company owned state of the art network -- One Better Network ("OBN"). TALK.com press releases available at talk.com . SOURCE TALK.com Inc. CO: TALK.com Inc.; America Online ST: Pennsylvania, Virginia IN: TLS MLM SU: CON 06/11/99 09:18 EDT prnewswire.com