AT&T Canada Partners With IBM Canada to Launch First National Network-based Call Centre Solution for Canadian Businesses - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, March 27, 2000

AT&T Canada Inc. (TSE: TEL.B and NASDAQ: ATTC), in partnership with IBM Canada Ltd., Thursday announced the launch of Canada's first national call centre solution for businesses. Utilizing IBM Canada's netCallCentre solution and AT&T Canada's local and long distance voice and data services, businesses of all sizes can now access sophisticated call centre applications such as computer telephony integration (CTI) and integrated voice response (IVR).

These state-of-the-art technologies are now available from AT&T Canada and IBM's platforms, on a per-minute or per-call cost basis. This solution offers medium and small businesses all of the benefits and functionality of on-premise call centre equipment without actually having one on-site, eliminating the need for large capital expenditures. Customers can now focus on their core business rather than maintenance and support of call centre equipment while maintaining control of their call centres.

AT&T Canada will offer IBM's netCallCentre solutions to customers across the country. Businesses utilizing the service will have the ability to route calls to an IVR service where the routine calls can be self served by the caller. For example, regular customers of a business can schedule appointments most convenient to them without having to talk to a live customer service representative outside business hours. For more advanced applications, a call can be routed from the IVR to a call centre using CTI to provide customer account information at the time the call arrives. These technologies are commonly used in large call centres to enhance the speed and quality of customer service as well as valuable customer relationship management tools. This solution brings these capabilities to medium and small sized businesses in a cost-effective manner.

"We're pleased to work with IBM Canada to provide one-stop shopping for call centre needs by delivering integrated solutions backed by our dedicated team of voice and data experts and by AT&T Canada's 17,000 kilometre local and long haul fibre optic network," said Daniele Bertrand, AT&T Canada's Senior Vice President, Marketing. "This unique solution helps business provide premium customer service in a very cost-effective manner."

"This partnership enables AT&T Canada to offer their customers leading-edge call centre technology," said Ralph Gwin, Services Executive, Customer Relationship Management Services, IBM Canada Ltd. "The merging of expertise results in innovative e-business solutions which help businesses of all sizes improve customer service."

netCallCentre offerings are scaleable, and accommodate both peak call volumes and the explosive growth in customer contacts resulting from e-commerce initiatives.

This product also allows businesses to customize their services by choosing from a selection of basic or advanced call centre functions, including Intelligent Call Routing, Advanced Reporting, Call Centre Control and Load Balancing. The service can be readily enhanced for any business by offering call routing, additional customer service rep positions or IVR capacity on demand or enabling any working telephone to become a call centre position.

AT&T Canada is Canada's largest facilities-based competitive provider of local and long distance voice, data and Internet telecommunications services. Created during 1999 from the merger of MetroNet Communications, AT&T Canada Long Distance Services, Netcom Canada and ACC TelEnterprises, AT&T Canada brings together the country's largest competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), three of Canada's leading competitive Internet Service Providers (ISP), and Canada's pioneer in competitive long distance. AT&T Canada Inc. is a public company with its common stock traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TEL.B and on the NASDAQ National Market System under the symbol ATTC. Visit AT&T Canada's web site, www.attcanada.com for more information about the company.