WorldCom Teams With North American Aerospace Defense Command to Give Kids an Eye-in-the-sky on Santa this Christmas Eve

Toll-Free Hotline Provides Direct Connection to NORAD Santa Tracking Team

CLINTON, Miss., Dec. 20, 2002 - WorldCom (WCOEQ), today announced it is teaming with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to make its unique form of Christmas cheer available to more children across the U.S. and Canada. For the first time in its 48-year history, kids will be able to call the NORAD Tracks Santa hotline free-of-charge at 1-877-HI-NORAD - to learn Santa's exact location on Christmas Eve from the NORAD Santa Tracking Team.

Using advanced radar and satellite tracking technology, the men and women of NORAD will begin tracking Santa's worldwide travels in the early morning of December 24. More than 100 volunteers, including WorldCom employees, will be continuously manning the NORAD Santa Tracking hotline from 7:00 a.m. MST on December 24 to 2:00 a.m. MST on December 25. Callers residing in the local Colorado Springs, Colo. calling area can reach the hotline by dialing 719-474-2111.

By teaming with WorldCom in 2002, NORAD is realizing a goal it has hoped to accomplish for several years - to provide toll-free calling to allow more children across America and Canada with access to the NORAD Santa Tracking hotline without incurring long distance charges. In 2001, nearly 7,000 calls were received.

"Like NORAD, WorldCom is a serious, 'can do' organization, with a warm heart. We're proud to be a part of this tradition that puts a human face on the critical mission that NORAD personnel quietly perform for us every day," said Jerry Edgerton, senior vice president of WorldCom Government Markets. "Helping kids from all over the country participate in this annual holiday event is something special that WorldCom and our employees wanted to do with NORAD."

Real-time information on Santa's exact location - in English, French, Spanish, Portugese, Italian and Japanese - complete with radar maps and streaming SantaCam video images documenting his global journey past some of the world's most famous landmarks - are available via the Internet at the "NORAD Tracks Santa" Web site (www.noradsanta.org).

NORAD is the bi-national U.S.-Canadian military organization responsible for the aerospace defense of the United States and Canada. NORAD was created by a 1958 agreement between Canada and the United States. The agreement has been renewed nine times, most recently in 2000.

NORAD's Santa tracking tradition started by accident in 1955 after a local newspaper ran a department store advertisement featuring a special 'Santa Hotline' phone number. But instead of ringing a phone at the store, the phone number turned out to be the 'Operations Hotline' to Continental Air Defense Command (NORAD's predecessor).

The senior officer on duty at the time was Colonel Harry Shoup (who still resides in Colorado Springs). Colonel Shoup took the first call and quickly figured out what had happened after hearing six-year-olds asking if they could speak to Santa. The colonel said he was helping Santa, telling the children he could see Santa on the radar screens heading south from the North Pole.

Local news media learned of the calls and reported the story. The next year, calls came flooding into Continental Air Defense Command from children who wanted to know where Santa was on Christmas Eve. Thus, a tradition was born - a tradition NORAD assumed in 1957. Since then, the program has gradually grown over the years, expanding to the Internet in 1997 and the introduction of toll-free calling in 2002.