10/18 09:09 SBC and E*Trade Announce Strategic Alliance to Accelerate Broadband
SBC and E*Trade Announce Strategic Alliance to Accelerate Broadband Adoption, Expand Customer Reach
SBC to Provide E*TRADE's Active Online Investors with High-Speed DSL Internet Access; Cooperative-Marketing Alliance Targets
35 Million Consumers
SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 1999--SBC Communications (NYSE:SBC) and E*TRADE Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:EGRP) today announced a multi-faceted nationwide alliance to provide high-speed DSL Internet access to thousands of E*TRADE's most active investors, enabling them to react more quickly and effectively to breaking financial market news and benefit from E*TRADE's rich content offerings.
Additionally, SBC and E*TRADE announced plans for a series of cooperative-marketing initiatives that will enable the companies to jointly market their services to as many as 35 million consumers.
E*TRADE is the world's first electronic financial services company to provide its most active customers state-of-the-art broadband DSL Internet access, delivering an important value-added benefit to online investors who require speed, service and best execution. SBC's DSL service will enable certain E*TRADE customers in the Power E*TRADE program to connect to the Internet at speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps, 50 times faster than with a 28.8 Kbps dial-up modem. E*TRADE plans to begin providing SBC's DSL service to its qualifying Power E*TRADE customers within the next few months.
This new SBC DSL product offering is a significant enhancement to Power E*TRADE, an industry-leading package of value-added products and services designed for active online investors who place a minimum of 30 trades per quarter. Power E*TRADE was originally launched in November 1998, and already features commissions as low as $4.95 per trade, free Nasdaq Level II quotes, streaming real-time portfolios, preferred IPO allocations, real-time account updates, a streamlined Trading Desk, and after-hours trading through Instinet.
"This exclusive DSL offering underscores our commitment to always pushing the limits in enhancing our customers' online experience, and to being the first and best in product innovation," said Jerry Gramaglia, chief marketing officer, E*TRADE. "SBC's DSL service offers speed and convenience that we know our customers will value, and it gives us a platform to add cutting-edge content -- such as streaming audio and video -- to our site. In particular, this broadband capability will help advance E*TRADE's new Digital Financial Media initiative, our next generation electronic financial services network that will deliver proprietary content via a range of channels and devices. We look forward to working with SBC on a wide range of strategic business opportunities."
"DSL broadband service is changing the online experience," said James D. Gallemore, executive vice president of strategic marketing and planning for SBC. "We're pleased to be allied with E*TRADE to provide its customers with lightning-fast speeds to E*TRADE's popular Web site, making it easier to use and enabling customers to be more productive and responsive to changes in the fast-paced financial markets."
The cooperative-marketing alliance will allow SBC and E*TRADE to develop joint promotions targeting as many as 35 million individuals. To that end, SBC and E*TRADE will work together in a variety of capacities to offer high-speed Internet access to the broader E*TRADE customer base, and to promote E*TRADE's online investing services through a wide range of SBC advertising initiatives, including direct mail, print and TV advertising.
Broadband services such as SBC's DSL allow customers to quickly download data, graphics, real-time audio and streaming video. For example, it takes approximately 13 seconds to download 25 typical Web pages with SBC's DSL (at 1.5 Mbps), compared to 12 minutes with a standard 28.8 Kbps modem.
This initiative underscores an earlier announcement made by SBC today -- "Project Pronto" -- in which company executives said that SBC will transform itself over the next three years into the largest single provider of advanced broadband services in America, making super-fast, always-on Internet access available to nearly all of its customers and creating a platform to deliver next-generation, broadband-powered services. To make this happen, SBC is pushing fiber deeper into its neighborhoods, installing or upgrading "neighborhood broadband gateways," and deploying DSL in additional central offices. After this deployment, for the majority of SBC's customers, distance to the central office will no longer be a barrier to ordering DSL. Additionally, Project Pronto will enable SBC to provide users with a minimum connection speed of 1.5 Mbps, 50 times faster than standard 28.8 Kbps dial-up modems.(a)
Because DSL users receive a "dedicated bandwidth" connection between their homes and the telephone company's facilities, transmission speeds between the home and the facility do not deteriorate as more users are added to the network. DSL also enables multi-tasking, allowing customers to use their computer and phone or fax machine at the same time -- over a single telephone line. And since DSL is "always on" compared to dial-up modems, there is no waiting for dial tones or frustrations from constant disconnections.
SBC DSL
With today's earlier broadband announcement, SBC estimates that 77 million Americans -- about 80 percent of its Ameritech, Nevada Bell, Pacific Bell, SNET and Southwestern Bell customers -- will have access to the company's high-speed DSL service by the end of 2002. Ultimately, the company intends to make broadband services available to virtually all of its customers.
For more information on SBC or DSL service, visit the company's Web site at www.sbc.com or call 888/884-2DSL.
SBC Communications Inc. (www.sbc.com) is a global communications leader. Through its trusted brands -- Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Pacific Bell, SBC Telecom, Nevada Bell, SNET and Cellular One -- and world-class network, SBC provides local and long-distance phone service, wireless and data communications, paging, high-speed Internet access and messaging, cable and satellite television, security services and telecommunications equipment, as well as directory advertising and publishing. In the United States, the company currently has 59 million access lines, 10.1 million wireless customers and is undertaking a national expansion program that will bring SBC service to an additional 30 markets. Internationally, SBC has telecommunications investments in 22 countries. With more than 200,000 employees, SBC is the 14th largest employer in the U.S., with annual revenues that rank it among the largest Fortune 500 companies.
About E*TRADE
E*TRADE, a global leader in online personal financial services and the world's most-visited online investing site, offers value-added investing and research features, premium customer service and a redundant, proprietary Stateless Architecture infrastructure. E*TRADE has continued to extend its customer financial services by acquiring Clearstation.com, a community-based financial analysis site, Confluent, Inc., and by a pending merger with Telebanc, the nation's leading branchless bank. E*TRADE has also made strategic investments in E*OFFERING, a full-service online investment bank, and Archipelago, a leading Electronic Communications Network (ECN). E*TRADE Securities Inc. (Member NASD/SIPC), and its parent company, E*TRADE Group Inc., have offices in Northern California and in other major business centers in the U.S. and worldwide.
(a) A minimum connection speed or "sync-rate" of 1.5Mbps will be guaranteed between customer locations and Telephone Company serving Central Office. Connections speeds may be higher under optimal conditions. Actual data transfer or "through-put" speed may be lower than sync-rate due to Internet congestions, server or router speeds, protocol overheads and other factors that cannot be controlled by the Telephone Company. Other speed options may be available, depending on customer distance from serving Central Office.
--30--brm/se*
CONTACT: SBC Communications
Chris Talley, 210/351-3991, 210/351-3990
or
Shawn Dainas, 415/356-1004
or
E*TRADE
Patrick Di Chiro, 650/331-5331
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