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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: vinod Khurana who wrote (3794)	10/24/1997 1:04:00 PM
From: vinod Khurana	Respond to of 74651

Quarterly Census Reveals First-Ever Decline In Online Subscribers; Interactive Services Report Study Logs 20.5 Million Users WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The online/Internet access business is in a holding pattern, according to the latest issue of Interactive Services Report, a weekly newsletter published by Telecommunications Reports International Inc. The number of customers served by the major U.S., online and Internet providers fell 3 percent between June 30 and Sept. 30, 1997, led by sizable departures at CompuServe Inc. and Delphi Internet on top of the usual summer doldrums. By Sept. 30, the leading online and Internet service providers reached 20,452,000 users -- about 617,400 fewer users than three months earlier. The unexpected decline amid turbulent conditions -- most notably America Online Inc.'s planned absorption of CompuServe -- brought the number of online/Internet users back near the level of six months earlier, 20.3 million users. One year ago there were 15.1 million users, according to Interactive Services Report data. ''The good news is that despite the decline in subscribers to many of the national online/Internet services providers, it does not look like the Internet medium is headed for the tailspin that has been predicted in several other studies,'' said Catherine Applefeld Olson, senior editor of Interactive Services Report. ''Many of the regional Bell operating companies logged significant upticks in subscribers during the third quarter, as did other regional and local services such as Erol's Internet.'' Applefeld Olson also noted that Microsoft Corp. unit WebTV Networks Inc. is making steady progress attracting customers to its Internet over the television service, and several of the cable modem services also showed double- and even triple-digit subscriber gains. FIVE LARGEST ONLINE INTERNET PROVIDERS Customers Growth Since Company 9/30/97 6/30/97 America Online 9,000,000 +3% CompuServe 4,137,000 -23% Microsoft Network 2,300,000 no change Prodigy 990,000 -1% AT&T WorldNet 950,000 +6% Source: ISR The ''Big Five'' providers were down 4.9 percent, largely because the Microsoft Network showed no gains while CompuServe declined and Prodigy dipped a slight 1 percent. Even America Online added only about 300,000 users during the quarter, about the same number it acquired during the previous quarters when it supposedly ''canceled'' its recruitment efforts while beefing up its access line capacity. Only AT&T Corp.'s WorldNet Service among the Big Five showed significant growth. Interactive Services Report's most recent quarterly online census of selected consumer-oriented online and Internet services details the number of users and growth from June 30 to Sept. 30, 1997, of 28 consumer online and Internet service providers, six cable modem services, four free e-mail services and nine online games companies. Telecommunications Reports provides historical and comparative data on the online and Internet services industry. To obtain additional information or reports, contact Karen Furbish in the TRI research department at 202-842-3022, ext. 3030 or kfurbish@tr.com.