AT&T WorldNet Service Announces Pricing Strategy to Maintain Reliable, Fast Access.

BASKING RIDGE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 1998--

Customers to See Improved Network Performance

AT&T WorldNet(R) Service today said it will maintain $19.95 monthly pricing for the overwhelming majority of its more than one million customers while significantly enhancing the speed and availability of its network for all who use it.

Beginning May 1, 1998, AT&T WorldNet Service will revise its $19.95 pricing plan, giving consumers 150 hours of access per month for $19.95 and charging 99 cents for each additional hour. Under this plan, 97 percent of all AT&T WorldNet Service customers should continue to pay just $19.95 a month. Because these customers on average use the service about 25 hours a month, they can actually increase their usage by as much as six times without seeing a change in their bills. Additionally, the company guaranteed it will not raise its $19.95 rate for the remainder of the year.

"The Internet has arrived as a mass medium and usage is soaring," said Dan Schulman, president of AT&T WorldNet Service. "We're taking these steps so that AT&T WorldNet Service will continue to provide industry-leading network performance at a fair price."

The changes announced today will improve network performance for all customers of AT&T WorldNet Service, while only three percent - those who use a disproportionate share of network resources -- will see changes in their monthly bills.

The relatively few customers who are affected by the new pricing, to be known as the Standard Plan, will be notified by email and post card. They also will have the opportunity to continuously track their monthly usage.

"We had to make choices in order to manage the increasing demands on our network, while continuing to provide the high level of service our customers expect from AT&T," Schulman said. "Our decision was to align cost with usage while maintaining $19.95 pricing for the majority of our customers. We believe this is the right thing to do."

In a related action, AT&T WorldNet Service also is lowering rates on its popular 10-hour plan to encourage these consumers to use and explore the vast possibilities of the Internet. Customers will pay the same $9.95 for 10 hours of monthly usage as they do now, but will be charged only 99 cents an hour for each hour beyond 10, down from the current $2.50.

In a further move to improve speed and successful connections, AT&T WorldNet Service also will add modems, lines and access numbers in selected cities where customer demand is heaviest. AT&T WorldNet Service will continue to deploy 56 kilobit-per-second modems, enabling customers to get the information they need more quickly.

Additionally, to reduce the rapid increase in electronic junk mail, or spam, AT&T WorldNet Service is introducing a means of flagging email with characteristics typical of spam, such as large lists of recipients. If the sender's name is on a list of known spam purveyors, the message can be stopped and the sender referred to a special unit within AT&T that deals with unacceptable practices.

AT&T WorldNet Service is the largest direct Internet service provider in the United States. It provides some 330 points of presence in the U.S., and is expanding availability of 56 kilobit-per-second access in its network. The service offers each subscriber a free 2-megabyte personal Web page. It has received awards for both its customer care and high reliability. AT&T WorldNet Service provides subscribers with the option of consolidating their Internet access, AT&T Long Distance and AT&T Wireless charges on a single bill. AT&T WorldNet Service enables its subscribers to electronically register for AT&T Long Distance service at a low 9-cent-a-minute rate, payable with a credit card.

AT&T WorldNet Service software for Windows 95, Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11 for Workgroups and Macintosh is available free of charge by download from the public AT&T WorldNet Web site (http://www.att.net) and from the AT&T Corporate Web site (http://www.att.com) or by calling 1-800-WORLDNET.

AT&T WorldNet is a registered service mark of AT&T.

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