BCT.TELUS Launches Regional Portal Based on AltaVista's Zip2 Homebase; Alliance with Second Largest Canadian Telecommunications Provider Marks Expansion into New Media Markets.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 1999--

AltaVista Company today announced the first local portal taking advantage of Zip2 Homebase, AltaVista's new Internet platform for local e-commerce and e-services. BCT.TELUS today publicly unveiled its enhanced MyBC.com portal serving consumers in British Columbia, with a special emphasis on the greater Vancouver area.

MyBC.com is the first local portal to take advantage of the power of AltaVista and Zip2 products and services. Zip2 Homebase combined with AltaVista's powerful search creates the Internet's leading local portal service.

Using Homebase, BCT.TELUS merged its current sites in British Columbia, MyBC.com and bcyellowpages.com, into the new, richly interactive www.mybc.com. This local portal features new Zip2 Homebase personalization and notification utilities, while integrating AltaVista's powerful search to quickly and easily connect users to their community. With Homebase, AltaVista combines the expanded local and regional content from its new media partners with national coverage, search, Web-based e-mail and shopping to deliver locally relevant results faster.

With the option of a personal home page, users of the new site may select and be notified with the information and services that matter to them most. Everything from movie reviews, horoscopes and lottery results now appear on www.mybc.com at the user's command and, for the first time, these features can be personalized to give an individual more relevant results.

BCT.TELUS chose Zip2 Homebase because it is a complete, integrated solution that includes personalization, calendar, business directory, along with maps and directions. "These are the elements that will help us create an online experience that is relevant and valuable to British Columbia without having to build everything from scratch, " said Mark Schnarr, vice president of Internet Services at BCT.TELUS.

The alliance with BCT.TELUS, Canada's second largest telecommunications company, represents an achievement for AltaVista's Zip2 Homebase platform and services within a new market. More than 2,000 advertisers' Web sites and 200,000 British Columbia business listings were aggregated for consumer access. Zip2 Professional Services worked with the BCT.TELUS team in Vancouver in just over two months to develop a new sales strategy and advertising product line, establish Web production and editorial processes. BCT.TELUS plans to launch regional variations of its new site in other provinces later this year.

"This is a very significant alliance for us," said Greg Kouri, AltaVista vice president of Zip2 Business Development. "It indicates the extent to which companies can expand their connection with customers into the online world using our industry leading Internet portal services. We're dedicated to working with media companies to tap into the Internet economy, and our relationship with BCT.TELUS demonstrates that we can meet the needs of a new class of media companies arising from the telecommunications sector."

Zip2 and BCT.TELUS have signed a multi-year agreement for both technology and Internet services. This announcement follows a comprehensive agreement between Zip2 and United Kingdom-based Mirror Group in February 1999.

About BCT.TELUS

BCT.TELUS Communications Inc. is Canada's second largest telecommunications company. The BCT.TELUS group of companies provides a full range of advanced communications services and products connecting Canadians with the world. BCT.TELUS shares trade on the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges under the stock symbols BTS (common) and BTS.A (non-voting).

About AltaVista and Zip2

AltaVista Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ). AltaVista combines three leading Internet services: -0-

     --   AltaVista.com, the most powerful and useful guide to the
          Internet

     --   Shopping.com, the most satisfying place to shop, 125%
          Guaranteed

     --   Zip2.com, the Internet's leading local portal service

-0-

AltaVista continues to build upon its heritage through extensive enhancements and industry-leading partnerships to make its family of Internet services relevant, fast and effective for Web users of all proficiency levels. For more information, visit AltaVista's flagship sites at http://www.altavista.com or http://www.av.com, http://www.shopping.com, and http://www.zip2.com.

Note to Editors: Compaq, Registered U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.