ATLANTA -August 26, 1999 -- MCI WorldCom today announced it has
signed an agreement for prepaid calling cards with Walgreen Co., one of
America's largest and fastest growing retail pharmacy chains. Under
the contract MCI WorldCom will provide Walgreens with co-branded
prepaid calling cards and an array of services including point-of-sale
activation (POSA) systems; long distance transmission; and 24x7
multi-lingual customer support and service.
The Walgreens prepaid calling cards will be merchandised at the
checkout counters of its more than 2,700 stores across the country.
Customers can purchase prepaid cards in 20, 40, 90 and 170 minute
calling denominations. The cards can be used to make calls from any
phone to practically anywhere in the world.
"Together, Walgreens and MCI WorldCom are the best combination
for consumer convenience and value in prepaid calling," said
Charles Wiggs, vice president, MCI WorldCom Prepaid. "When callers
use their new Walgreens phone cards they can be assured that their
calls will be connected over MCI WorldCom lines using one of the
world's most reliable and far-reaching telephone networks. Both
companies believe in providing customers with the highest quality
products and services using the latest technology."
The MCI WorldCom Walgreens phone cards can be purchased now.
Walgreens will offer bonus calling time to every customer that returns
to the store to "refresh," or add more time to, their prepaid
card. Customers will receive a 10 percent unit bonus for every in-store
refresh transaction (for example, an in-store refresh purchase of 170
units receives 17 bonus units).
"This new program with MCI WorldCom will enhance our position
as the leader in convenience and value to our customers, especially
combined with our 600 24-hour store locations," said Mark Paul,
Walgreens vice president of Purchasing.
Walgreens serves some 2.5 million customers a day. The drug chain
will continue to use its POSA system to speed customer purchases and
maintain inventory control. The system allows for cards to be
merchandised on the floor without theft and inventory reduction
concerns. This simple point-of-purchase "swipe" process adds
security while it allows customers to pick up and inspect the product.
The cards are displayed on the sales floor and remain inactive until
checkout, at which point they are run through Walgreens credit card
reader, which communicates with the MCI WorldCom platform to remotely
activate the card.
MCI WorldCom Prepaid offers one of the most comprehensive prepaid
card marketing programs available -- tailored to each customer's
business needs. Retailers and merchants benefit from the powerful MCI
WorldCom local-to-global-to-local network, assuring users of quality
long distance connections and outstanding reliability without reliance
on other local or national carriers. MCI WorldCom Prepaid supplies and
serves many of the largest retailers in the country. The company leads
the industry in retail prepaid card distribution, serving some 65,000
retail locations nationwide including the top convenience stores, mass
merchandisers, drugstores and grocery chains in the U.S.
MCI WorldCom is a global leader in communications services with 1998
revenues of more than $30 billion and established operations in over 65
countries encompassing the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific
regions. MCI WorldCom is a premier provider of facilities-based and
fully integrated local, long distance, international and Internet
services. MCI WorldCom's global networks, including its
state-of-the-art pan-European network and transoceanic cable systems,
provide end-to-end high-capacity connectivity to more than 40,000
buildings worldwide. MCI WorldCom is traded on NASDAQ under WCOM. For
more information on MCI WorldCom, visit the World Wide Web at
http://www.wcom.com.
Walgreen Co. is the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal
1998 sales of $15.3 billion. The company operates 2,774 stores in 38
states and Puerto Rico and plans to have 3,000 stores in the year 2000
and 6,000 in 2010.
