Foreign Exchange (FX) Service also provides businesses a way to eliminate
long-distance charges for their customers and offices located outside Phoenix
with FX service between Phoenix and Tucson, Yuma, Prescott or Flagstaff; and
between Phoenix and ELI's major markets, including Seattle, Sacramento, Salt
Lake, Boise, Portland, Ore. and Spokane, Wash.
TEMPE, Ariz., April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Electric Lightwave Inc.
(Nasdaq: ELIX), a leading integrated communications provider, today announced
expanded availability of its foreign exchange telephone service from Phoenix
to Tucson, Yuma, Prescott or Flagstaff.
Foreign exchange is a value-added service that reduces long-distance
charges for businesses and altogether eliminates long-distance telephone
charges for their customers and/or offices located outside Phoenix. This is
accomplished by giving companies the ability to buy local telephone numbers in
other cities and states.
"Eliminating long-distance telephone charges for customers of companies
conducting business regionally and in the West, and reducing long-distance
costs for businesses in general, not only saves companies and their customers
money, but also opens up new business opportunities for local businesses,"
said Adam Schrage, ELI's Arizona general manager in Tempe. "Electric
Lightwave's enhanced FX rollout marks the first major offering of foreign
exchange service by a competitive local exchange provider. For the most part,
foreign exchange service has only been available through monopoly telephone
companies. This FX expansion is another example of Electric Lightwave's
determination to become the nation's leading integrated communications
provider."
The foreign exchange service allows, for example, a company headquartered
in Phoenix that has customers or an office in Tucson to obtain a local Tucson
telephone number. Customers and employees in Tucson call the Tucson number,
which connects to the Phoenix office, without incurring any long-distance
charges. Likewise the Phoenix office can call Tucson phone numbers without
incurring long-distance charges.
The cost for Electric Lightwave's foreign exchange service between Phoenix
and Tucson is a value-added charge for existing local telephone service
customers of $350 a month for up to 24 lines on its high-speed, fiber-optic
network; compared to a typical cost of $200 a month for just one line with
another company.
Electric Lightwave expects multi-location and communications-intensive
businesses to be its largest block of customers to choose the foreign exchange
service, followed by Internet Service Providers. Foreign exchange service
enables business customers to offer services in new markets without causing
their prospective customers to incur long-distance charges.
In addition to the Phoenix to Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff or Prescott routes,
Electric Lightwave provides its enhanced foreign exchange service from Phoenix
to and between all of its major metropolitan areas, which include Sacramento,
Seattle, Salt Lake City, Boise, Spokane, Wash. and Portland, Ore.
Electric Lightwave plans to continue expanding its offering of enhanced
foreign exchange services in coming months to smaller cities in Idaho, Utah,
Oregon and Washington.
About Electric Lightwave
Electric Lightwave Inc. is a leading integrated communications provider of
local, prepaid and long-distance telephone service and enhanced high-speed
broadband data transport and Internet access. Its full-service metropolitan
area markets include Phoenix, Sacramento, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Boise,
Portland, Ore. and Spokane, Wash. Nationwide, Electric Lightwave provides
long-distance and prepaid telephone service and enhanced data transport, frame
relay, ATM and Internet access, including points-of-presence in Atlanta,
Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York,
Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Washington, D.C.
Headquartered in Vancouver, Wash., Electric Lightwave employs 1,200 and
earned revenues of $101 million in 1998, up 65 percent from 1997. Additional
information about Electric Lightwave Inc. is located on the World Wide Web at
http://www.eli.net and http://data.eli.net.
SOURCE Electric Lightwave Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.eli.net
http://data.eli.net
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/117258.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 117258
CONTACT:
Susan Farmer, Public Relations Manager of
Electric Lightwave, 602-277-1122, pager, 888-328-9235 or
susan_farmer@eli.net
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