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Technology Stocks : RCN Corp. (RCNC) - Voice-Video-Internet -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kevin G. O'Neill who wrote (259)	2/25/1999 1:17:00 PM
From: Tradelite	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 720

RCN to Bring Competitive Phone, Cable and Internet Services to 200,000 Residents In Montgomery County, Maryland PR Newswire - February 25, 1999 09:44 Company Also Announces Initial Washington Results Show Most Customers Embracing RCN's 'Bundle' of Communications Services PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- RCN Corporation (Nasdaq: RCNC) announced today that it had reached a preliminary agreement with officials in Montgomery County, Maryland to connect more than 200,000 county residents to the company's state-of-the-art fiber optic network offering phone, cable and Internet services. The company also announced that early results from its Washington operations show strong penetrations and an unexpectedly high number of customers opting to purchase multiple services. Under terms of a 15-year franchise agreement with Montgomery County, RCN will begin construction in the fourth quarter of this year and will begin service to county residents by early January. RCN, which provides service in the Washington area through a joint venture with Pepco Communications under the Starpower brand name, expects to complete its initial phase of construction within four years. "Competition is the best thing we can bring to subscribers in Montgomery County," County Executive Douglas M. Duncan said in announcing the agreement. "We are pleased to welcome Starpower to the county, and hope that success in its initial build-out area will enable it to expand and serve all parts of the county in the future." At the completion of its initial build-out, Starpower's network will pass more than 200,000 of Montgomery's County's 282,000 homes -- targeting the county's most densely populated areas. The agreement must still receive final approval from the Montgomery County Council, which is expected within 60 days of a public hearing scheduled for early next month. RCN Chairman and CEO David C. McCourt said he was pleased with the agreement, which follows prior local approvals to serve the Maryland City of Gaithersburg and the District of Columbia. "This agreement to serve Montgomery County dramatically expands RCN's reach in the Washington market, an area that is already demonstrating strong demand for our bundled communications services," McCourt said. "We look forward to building a state-of-the-art fiber optic network capable of delivering the future of communications to Montgomery County's residents." Separately, RCN announced that early results from operations in Washington, D.C. show strong penetrations for the company's phone, cable and Internet services -- and an unexpectedly high percentage of customers opting to purchase multiple services. RCN reported that 70% of its Washington-area cable customers were also taking local phone service. Additionally, more than 82% of its customers taking local phone service were also signing up for long-distance telephone, and more than 12% of cable customers were taking advantage of the company's high-speed Internet service. "Our early results in Washington clearly support RCN's strategy of offering multiple services over a single, superior network," McCourt said. "This approach allows RCN to build several loyal customer bases at the same time -- all served by a common distribution system, our network." Starpower is already achieving an average penetration rate of greater than 24% for cable service in the buildings connected to the company's True Local Network. "Although Washington is a new market, these numbers are encouraging because they are ahead of the penetrations we achieved in earlier markets at this same early stage," McCourt said. About the Network RCN's True Local Network is a unique broadband fiber optic platform capable of offering the full suite of communications services -- including fully-featured voice, video and high-speed Internet -- to residential customers. The network employs SONET ring backbone architecture and localized nodes built to ensure its state-of-the-art fiber optics travel to within 900 feet of RCN customers, with fewer electronics and lower maintenance costs than existing local networks. RCN's East and West Coast local fiber optic networks target densely-populated areas comprising nearly 40% of the U.S. residential communications market spread over just 6% of its geography. About the Company RCN Corporation (Nasdaq: RCNC) is the nation's first and largest single- source, facilities-based provider of communications services to the residential market, the largest regional Internet service provider (ISP) in the Northeast and one of the nation's largest ISPs. The company is currently providing local and long distance phone, cable television and Internet services in several markets from Boston to Washington, D.C. RCN has expanded its target market to include California's San Francisco to San Diego corridor. SOURCE RCN Corporation /CONTACT: Valerie Haertel of RCN Investor Relations, 609-734-3816, or Jim Maiella of RCN Public Relations, 212-376-4399/ /Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 125089/ /Web site: rcn.com