WorldSpy became
the first substantial free Internet access provider to cease operations in
the U.S. last week when it announced that it would terminate services at
the end of June.
Sharon Rothstein, WorldSpy chief executive officer and president, said that
competitive forces forced the free ISP to succumb to operating costs.
“While we were encouraged by our growth in subscribers, given the current
financial market conditions, this deal with Juno was our best alternative,”
Rothstein said.
Juno Online Services Inc.
worked quickly to entice WorldSpy’s 260,000 active users to its cadre of
Web and dial-up services.
Charles Ardai, Juno’s president and chief executive
officer, said the deal strengthens its position in both the free access and
fee-based market segments.
“We are excited about this opportunity to expand Juno’s reach and
strengthen our position in the market,” Ardai said. “WorldSpy has built a
sizable audience of loyal users, and we are honored to welcome them into
the Juno family.”
Juno laid out the terms of its subscriber referral agreement with
WorldSpy.com, which will receive compensation in the form of Juno common
stock for each former WorldSpy subscriber who becomes a Juno user during a
90-day subscriber transition period.
WorldSpy subscribers who convert to Juno will be able to continue receiving
e-mail sent to their WorldSpy e-mail address, and will continue to receive
free access to the Web. WorldSpy users will have an option to upgrade to
one of Juno’s billable premium services, including its broadband access
plan dubbed Juno Express.
WorldSpy’s Rothstein said the defunct service provider was happy to land
its subscriber base with Juno.
“We believe that Juno’s broad range of services, ranging from free Internet
access to broadband and wireless service, will be the most appealing choice
for our users,” Rothstein said.
Juno contends that it follows rival ISPs America Online’s 24 million
members and EarthLink’s 4.2 million subscribers as a result of the WorldSpy deal.
Juno staked its claim to being the third largest Intent service provider in
the U.S., providing Internet access to more than 3.0 million active
subscribers.
However, Juno failed to account for thriving free access provider NetZero Inc.’s 4
million subscribers it reported to serve in May.
The successful transition of WorldSpy clients to Juno could, in actuality,
land the national ISP in the fourth slot, just ahead of Microsoft. Corp.’s
MSN Internet, which confirmed that it
provides dial-up services to 2.6 million users as of mid-June.
