Concert frame relay service expands to 31 countries; MCI and BT sign on their 500th customer to the service.

RYE BROOK, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 15, 1995--MCI announced today that Concert Frame Relay Service, an advanced, high-bandwidth data service, is now available in Colombia, Indonesia, Israel, Taiwan and Venezuela, bringing to 31 the number of countries in which the service is available. Due to the increasing size of the Concert network, the service is believed to have the widest reach in the marketplace today, with direct coverage to and from more than 500 cities.

BT, MCI's alliance partner, announced today that the Mediterranean Shipping Company has become the 500th customer for the Concert Frame Relay Service. Mediterranean, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, will be using the service for data communications links between its headquarters in Geneva with sites in Europe, US and South Africa.

"Concert Frame Relay Service offers the widest geographic coverage of any service provider," said Stephen VonRump, vice president of Data Services for MCI, "Clearly, the signing of the service's 500th customer proves that the Concert data network is the only global network of its quality and scope."

Concert Frame Relay Service is ideally suited for applications such as Client-Server database applications, CAD/CAM, imaging and multimedia e-mail groupware, as well as for interconnecting geographically dispersed LANs.

In a separate development, a new offering called Concert Remote LAN Access, is now available enabling customers who work away from the main office to dial into the nearest Concert Packet Service access point and be routed via the Concert Frame Relay Service into their main office LAN. Customers get the look and feel of a direct office connection into their LAN with the convenience of a local call. Concert Packet Services represents the world's most extensive global managed data network.

Concert provides a complete portfolio of advanced global communication services to multinational businesses worldwide. MCI and BT now have more than 2,000 customers of such Concert services as Concert Virtual Network Service, Concert Frame Relay Service, and Concert Packet Services. Today, Concert services are available in more than 50 countries through MCI, BT and distributors in North America, Europe and Asia.

MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's largest and fastest-growing diversified communications companies. With annual revenue of more than $13 billion, MCI offers consumers and businesses a broad portfolio of services including long distance, wireless, local access, paging, Internet software and access, information services, outsourcing, business software, advanced global telecommunications services, and music distribution and merchandising.

CONTACT: MCI

Jane Levene, 914/934-6480

1-800-644-NEWS