UUNET to offer business-class Internet access services to multinationals and Greek businesses Ashburn, Va., October 3, 2000 - WorldCom today announced further European expansion of its Internet services with the launch of operations in Greece. WorldCom, through its UUNET subsidiary, will offer Greek-based and multinational businesses access to high performance, business-class Internet solutions backed by industry-leading Service Level Agreement guarantees, a first for Greek businesses.
With today's launch, Greece marks the fifth new European country that UUNET has opened in 2000, bringing the total number of European country operations to 19 and now includes all member states of the European Union. Earlier this year, UUNET launched operations in Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary and Finland.
In 1999, UUNET entered six new European country markets including Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Austria. The company also operates European offices in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Sweden. In North and South America, UUNET operates in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. In the Asia Pacific region, the company delivers advanced Internet services to business customers in Japan, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
"Our core strategy for growth is to deliver a consistent customer experience of premier, high performance Internet communications services on a global basis," said Bob Hartnett, president & CEO, WorldCom Global Accounts & UUNET. "UUNET's entry into the Greek market is an important step in our International strategy which we are executing at an accelerated pace."
The Greek Market
According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the market for Internet services in Greece today is $87 million annually. The research firm estimates that the growth will continue at 36 percent per annum which is approximately 5 percent faster than Europe as a whole.
UUNET's entry into Greece is timed to power this market as it embraces the new e~conomy. The country's telecommunications industry has taken the first steps toward liberalisation, with full facilities-based competition scheduled to start in 2001. The Greek Government's "Get Connected" campaign is delivering a range of e-commerce orientated initiatives designed to accelerate the Greek economy, which is currently growing at three to four percent annually. Furthermore, the European Union has targeted Greece for additional economic support aimed specifically at developing its e~conomy.
"As we have seen over the last couple of weeks at the Olympics in Sydney, Australia, the key to winning is often timing," said Pat Chapman-Pincher, Senior VP at UUNET responsible for Europe, Middle East and Africa. "We are really excited about the Greek market. There is tremendous demand for our core services on day one as Greece moves up a gear in the race to participate in the e~conomy, and as the e~comony matures here, we will mature our service offerings with it."
UUNET Service Offerings
Available immediately, UUNET will offer dedicated Internet access services in Greece that runs over the company's award-winning global IP network. UUNET will offer solutions geared to meet the requirements of businesses, online service providers and telecommunications firms. Specifically, these services will include UUdirect leased line services and UUdirect Transit - wholesale services for Internet Service Providers that require a global solution via a single connection.
The company plans to roll out its full portfolio of Internet solutions for business including Web hosting, IP Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and dial up Internet connectivity services.
UUNET Global IP Network
UUNET has extended its terrestrial network into Greece with DS-3 (45 Mbps) lines with a network hub in Athens, offering unprecedented capacity to the Greek market for Internet services. From the outset, businesses will have access to UUNET's global IP network, one of the most rigorously engineered IP networks in the world - delivering high quality, innovative services to businesses.
UUNET's network maintains the highest level of reliability with redundant and diverse paths to avoid single points of failure and provide optimal routing and traffic flow, as well as uninterruptible power supplies at every switching node.
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 provides facilities-based and fully integrated services to facilitate e-business and e-commerce in the digital generation. For more information go to http://www.wcom.com.
