Type 1 Service Branded "0071"
Tokyo, Japan, November 24, 1998 --
MCI WorldCom Japan has announced that tomorrow it will become the
first foreign-owned company to provide Type 1 voice services to the
Tokyo market.
MCI WorldCom Japan plans to offer international direct dialing
services from Japan to global calling destinations under the
"0071" brandname, which is the proprietary dialing code for
the service.
President and CEO of MCI WorldCom Japan, Bill Sheils, said
customers who subscribe to the 0071 service will be able to access
all of the major markets at competitive prices while maintaining
quality service.
"The most competitively priced destinations will be those
where MCI WorldCom owns and operates its own telecommunications
infrastructure, such as Europe and the US. We will have on-net
discounts to outbound traffic connecting to the 38,000 buildings on
our network," said Mr. Sheils.
The service, aimed at business users, will offer customers
connectivity to the major financial centers of the world over MCI
WorldCom's global network. An advantage of MCI WorldCom's
service will be volume discounts and significant price reductions for
users with direct terminal access lines when connected to MCI
WorldCom's fibre optic network in Japan.
While 0071 is the first service to be rolled out under a Type 1
facilities based licence, the company has been supplying customers
under a Type 2 licence since 1996. MCI WorldCom plans to roll out its
full portfolio of metropolitan and international services to its
customers in Japan, providing end-to-end managed voice and data
services.
Mr Sheils says that through its end-to-end telecommunications
infrastructure in Japan, throughout Asia and globally, MCI WorldCom
is able to offer customers high levels of quality, security and
reliability.
This 0071 service launch is the latest in a series of firsts for
MCI WorldCom in Japan. MCI WorldCom was the first company to apply
for a Type 1 facilities based license in February of this year, and
subsequently the first foreign owned telecommunications company to
have its application approved in March. It was also the first, and
currently the only, foreign owned Type 1 telecommunications company
to physically break ground in Japan and start to lay its own
fibre-optic cable in September of this year.
The Tokyo network will be supported locally by MCI WorldCom's
Tokyo switch site in Shinkawa and will have back-up support from the
company's regional operations centre located in Hong Kong.
MCI WorldCom is a global telecommunications company with revenue
of more than $30 billion. MCI WorldCom is a premier provider of
facilities-based and fully integrated local, long distance,
international and Internet services. MCI WorldCom's global
networks, including its state-of-the-art pan-European network and
transoceanic cable systems, provide end-to-end high-capacity
connectivity to more than 35,000 buildings worldwide.
MCI WorldCom International has 10 offices throughout Asia and is
expanding its presence in line with the pace of deregulation in the
region. MCI WorldCom is the first foreign-owned telecommunications
company in Japan to offer international voice and data services over
its wholly- owned, expanding Tokyo network. In Australia, MCI
WorldCom was awarded a carrier licence in May and construction of a
metropolitan network in Sydney has begun. MCI WorldCom has fully-
staffed offices offering voice and data services in Hong Kong and
Singapore, and has remote data nodes in Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul
and Taipei.
For more information on MCI WorldCom, visit the World Wide Web
www.mciworldcom.com or
www.worldcom.com/asiapac
.
