Another example of why WCOM made my best management list:
MCI WORLDCOM DSL DEPLOYMENT REACHES
Milestone Mark of 1,000 Points of Presence; EarthLink Reaches
Agreement with UUNET to Provide National DSL Services
Business Editors & Technology Writers
FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 1999--MCI WorldCom
(Nasdaq:WCOM) today announced it has reached more than 1,000 Points of
Presence (PoPs) in its DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) deployment,
significantly boosting the company's DSL coverage to 850 cities in 22
metropolitan areas across the United States. The deployment, made
available through UUNET, MCI WorldCom's Internet division, provides
wide reach within each top-tier metropolitan area and allows more
businesses to access affordable broadband service from a nearby
location. Already approximately five months ahead of schedule, the
company will continue its deployment efforts and plans to bring the
number of PoPs to 1,500 by year-end and to 2,000 by the end of next
year.
"As the first Internet Service Provider to reach the 1,000 PoP
milestone, we can provide DSL to the business and wholesale market
with the broadest reach in the industry," said Ralph Montfort,
director of product marketing for dedicated services, UUNET. "This
announcement demonstrates MCI WorldCom's leadership-role in providing
nationwide DSL access."
In a separate announcement today, leading Internet Service
Provider EarthLink said that it has entered into an agreement with
UUNET to provide consumer-priced DSL nationwide to its members.
EarthLink has begun testing in Los Angeles and Boston and will conduct
market tests later this year in Dallas, Minneapolis and
Charlotte, N.C. EarthLink plans to make the service available in major
metropolitan markets by the end of the year.
"UUNET's extensive national DSL network will allow us to offer
DSL services to our members on a much broader scale than before," said
Jon Irwin, senior vice president of broadband services, EarthLink. "By
allowing us to reach such a large part of the country through one
provider, we'll significantly cut down on the time it takes to roll
service out in different areas and significantly reduce our operations
costs."
DSL Offerings
The DSL service for corporate customers, UUlink(SM) DSL, is a
fully integrated, end-to-end Internet access solution. Designed to
provide all the bandwidth, speed and flexibility necessary to meet
mission-critical business demands, UUlink DSL is a symmetrical service
currently available in bandwidths from 128 Kbps through 768 Kbps.
The DSL consumer service, made available through the company's
resellers, is asymmetrical with per-user bandwidth that ranges from 64
Kbps to 384 Kbps upstream and from 384 Kbps to 768 Kbps downstream,
depending on such factors as the customer's region and distance from
the PoP.
Availability
UUlink DSL coverage is currently available in Baltimore, Boston,
Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San
Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington. The company plans to
reach new cities for UUlink throughout the rest of the year including
Atlanta, Austin, Texas, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Detroit, Houston, and
Miami in the fourth quarter of 1999.
UUNET DSL service for wholesale customers is available today in
22 metropolitan areas including Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Los
Angeles, Miami, and Seattle. Additional markets planned for year-end
include Austin, Texas, Cincinnati, Detroit, Orlando, Fla., and
St. Louis.
By year-end, MCI WorldCom plans to rollout Enterprise DSL for
integrated access to frame relay, ATM and Internet in 13 metropolitan
cities, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los
Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, San
Francisco and Seattle.
Pricing
Current promotional pricing for UUlink DSL starts at $139 per
month for 128 Kbps access and $189 per month for 384 Kbps access.
Internet connectivity and the customer's local loop are included as
part of the current pricing program. A complete business-class
offering, UUlink DSL is a multi-user service with end to end proactive
monitoring. UUNET installation engineers are assigned to each account
for dedicated customer service throughout the installation process and
for additional technical support. UUlink DSL also comes with multiple
IP addresses, 20 email boxes, multiple Usenet newsreaders and a domain
name.
For the UUNET DSL consumer service to wholesale customers, rates
to resellers depend upon volume commitment and chosen service level
parameters. End-user prices to consumers are determined by each
service provider.
MCI WorldCom Enterprise DSL will offer 10 access speed choices
ranging from 128 Kbps to 7 Mbps (where available). Pricing will vary
depending on access speed, service level and customer premise
equipment type and application. MCI WorldCom Enterprise DSL will
include 24 x 7 pro-active monitoring and single circuit support for
stand-alone frame relay, ATM, IP and voice applications as well as
multiple, integrated services over the same Enterprise DSL access
circuit.
For more information about the company's DSL services, go to
usa.uu.net.
About MCI WorldCom
UUNET, an MCI WorldCom company, is a global leader in Internet
communications solutions. MCI WorldCom is a global leader in
communications services with 1998 revenues of more than $30 billion
and established operations in over 65 countries encompassing the
Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions. MCI WorldCom is a
premier provider of facilities-based and fully integrated local, long
distance, international and Internet services. MCI WorldCom's global
networks, including its state-of-the-art pan-European network and
transoceanic cable systems, provide end-to-end high-capacity
connectivity to more than 40,000 buildings worldwide. MCI WorldCom is
traded on NASDAQ under WCOM. For more information on MCI WorldCom,
visit the World Wide Web at wcom.com. |
