MCI And Tellme To Deliver Internet-Based Contact Center Solutions

Relationship Expands MCI's Contact Center Capabilities; Benefits Large Businesses and Government Agencies

ASHBURN, Va., March 16, 2005-MCI, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCIP) today announced an agreement with Tellme Networks, Inc. to offer Internet-based contact center solutions to large enterprise customers in financial, insurance
and healthcare industries and the government sector.

The two companies are now jointly selling customer self-service solutions running on Tellme's network and integrated with MCI's routing platform for live agent support. This combination means MCI customers can take advantage of Tellme's Internet-based and carrier-grade network to power their customer service phone numbers.

"Businesses are embracing Internet-based contact center solutions to enhance their customer service operations," said Nancy Gofus, senior vice president of MCI Product Management. "Our relationship with Tellme complements more than 10 years of MCI contact center experience by expanding our portfolio to deliver powerful applications that address the requirements of some of our largest customers."

By adding Tellme's capabilities to its suite of hosted voice services, MCI is able to offer large enterprise customers in select markets an end-to-end contact center solution and expedite the roll-out of more sophisticated Internet-based services. Customers can achieve efficiencies by leveraging their existing Web infrastructure to answer calls, increase automation using speech recognition technology as the primary, self service interface and provide callers with a personalized customer experience that also reflects a company's distinct brand.

"We are at the very beginning of what is possible on the phone when you power the conversation with Internet data. We are pleased to be working with MCI to offer these applications to a broad base of enterprise clients and to support MCI transport on our network," said David Weiden, senior vice president of marketing at Tellme.

MCI is also upgrading its speech technology capabilities across its existing platforms to address the needs of all its contact center customers. The implementation of VoiceXML 2.0 and software upgrades to its speech offerings will allow MCI to more efficiently create voice applications that work together with an organization's website. Services based on VoiceXML help businesses to extend the reach of their Web-based applications to anyone with a telephone, making their existing operations more ubiquitous.

MCI Speech Solutions is a suite of hosted voice services that enable organizations to increase customer service capabilities without costly investments in software or hardware. Using the latest multimedia technology and intelligent network routing, MCI helps businesses provide their customers with a positive experience in a cost-effective environment.

About MCI
MCI, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCIP) is a leading global communications provider, delivering innovative, cost-effective, advanced communications connectivity to businesses, governments and consumers. With the industry's most expansive global IP backbone, based on the number of company-owned points of presence, and wholly-owned data networks, MCI develops the converged communications products and services that are the foundation for commerce and communications in today's market. For more information, go to www.mci.com.