CLINTON, Miss., and BOSTON, June 20, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- WorldCom, Inc. (Nasdaq:WCOM) and PhoneRun, Inc. today announced they have reached preliminary agreement on a business relationship that will accelerate the distribution of a new mobile Internet service called phonecasting. Modeled after television and radio broadcasting, phonecasting is a media network of Internet-sourced audio channels for news, entertainment, and shopping available to telephones via voice command. WorldCom will make PhoneRun's phonecasting readily available throughout its communications networks.
For WorldCom, PhoneRun is the first in a series of innovative content and service partners assembled to form a comprehensive voice portal product line, overall driven by WorldCom's recently announced generation d initiative. "With the introduction of generation d, WorldCom fundamentally shifted its corporate strategy to focus on services that facilitate e-business," said Ron McMurtrie, Vice President of Marketing and EBusiness at WorldCom. He adds, "By building phonecasting into our network, we have added another valuable service to the e-business tool kit we offer enterprise customers."
"Phonecasting transforms mobile, home, and business phones into personalized radio stations that people can use to get information, be entertained or to shop," said Anthony Flynn, CEO of PhoneRun. He continues, "This is a powerful new medium, capable of reaching millions of callers. We're thrilled that WorldCom is our first telco carrier partner, because they clearly see the scale of this opportunity and have the muscle to bring it to the marketplace."
The two companies will create phonecasting "stations" at points of telephone contact such as call centers and mobile phones, allowing callers to access phonecasting instantly by saying "PhoneRun." Mobile callers will be able to create their own radio stations with on-demand programs of choice for their morning and evening commutes.
WorldCom will be able to place phonecasting on corporate phones of its customers and add corporate channels to build voice-driven intranets. Thus, employees could access company announcements or hear the latest industry news via voice command. Also as a part of the agreement, WorldCom will sell the marketing services enabled by phonecasting. WorldCom customers can build their call center, web site, and foot traffic through phonecast ads as well as increase revenue via phonecasting triggered e-commerce.
More on generation d
As part of the corporate-wide effort, WorldCom launched its generation d initiative to extend its industry-leading data and Internet network and transport services to include a broad range of value added services to facilitate e-commerce and e-business for its customers. A series of additional generation d services are being built for introduction in the coming months. To learn more about generation d, visit www.wcom.com/generationd.
More on Phonecasting
Modeled after television and radio broadcasting, phonecasting is a media network of Internet-sourced audio channels for news, entertainment, and shopping available to telephones. With PhoneRun, callers can customize their phonecasting experience and direct it with simple voice commands. Phonecasting allows users to create personal radio stations featuring audio channels such as AP News, The Nightly Business Report, Weather.com, as well as sports, traffic updates, stock news, horoscopes, books-on-tape, CEO speeches, and live sporting events.
About WorldCom
WorldCom (Nasdaq:WCOM) is a global leader in "all-distance" communications services with operations in more than 65 countries. Revenues in 1999 were $37 billion, with more than $15 billion from high-growth data, Internet and international services. WorldCom and Sprint have announced a merger agreement, which the companies expect to close in the second half of 2000 after regulatory approvals. For more information go to http://www.wcom.com.
About PhoneRun
PhoneRun, Inc. is building a media network of internet-sourced news, entertainment, and shopping channels available over the telephone. The Boston-based startup recently launched a technology partnership with Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU) and promised to announce carrier, content, and e-commerce partners in the following weeks. The WorldCom alliance is the first of these announcements. The company can be reached at www.phonerun.com.