MCI TO ACQUIRE DAROME TELECONFERENCING; Move Accelerates Push into Fast-growing Conferencing Market

Business Wire, June 1, 1995

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 1995--MCI Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: MCIC) and Darome Teleconferencing, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby MCI would acquire Darome, one of the largest privately held teleconferencing companies.

Under the merger agreement, MCI will acquire Darome for approximately $32 million. The companies will combine their conferencing product development and marketing activities to target the fast-growing $2 billion global conferencing market. Analysts project the conferencing market is growing 25 percent a year, fueled by continued strong sales of audio conferencing as well as emerging desktop video and data conferencing services.

"The strategic combination of Darome's experience and expertise in the conferencing market and MCI's strengths in product development, network facilities and marketing resources is very synergistic and solidifies our position as a major force in the conferencing market," said Scott Ross, president of MCI Business Markets.

"The MCI-Darome partnership is a great fit," said Philip D. Knell, president and CEO of Darome. "MCI brings to Darome a highly-advanced long distance network platform, greater access to hundreds of thousands of businesses and widely-regarded marketing savvy. The combination of resources will offer excellent growth potential in the robust conferencing market."

The MCI-Darome conferencing unit will operate as a separate entity within MCI Business Markets and will be responsible for marketing the company's portfolio of conferencing services.

Darome, which is headquartered in Chicago, provides teleconferencing services to businesses of all sizes. It maintains major conference call centers, in such cities as Chicago, Danbury CT, and Washington, D.C., and operates a a state-of-the-art digital reservation system that serves a customer base that includes major corporations, financial institutions, government agencies, educational facilities and other organizations. Darome is widely recognized as the leading service provider for financial and investor relations conferencing.

MCI is already one of the largest and most innovative providers of conferencing services. networkMCI CONFERENCING provides multipoint bridging, a single 800 number for reservations and support, and digital transmission. Services currently include audio and video conferencing, as well as advanced document sharing. Last month, MCI announced mid-summer availability of multipoint document conferencing supporting the T.120 standard. Each service can be contracted for individually or as a family of services.

The merger is subject to approval by the MCI board of directors, Darome stockholders and board of directors, clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and other customary conditions.

MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has expanded from its core long distance business to become the world's third-largest carrier of international calling and a premier provider of data communications over the vast Internet network. With annual revenue of more than $13.3 billion, the company today provides a wide array of consumer and business long distance voice and local services, data and video communications, on-line information, electronic mail, network management services and communications software.

CONTACT: MCI Business Markets

Frank J. Walter/Paul Adams

1-800-644-NEWS

MCI_News_Bureau_@MCI.com