Lycos Spins Out Deals in Europe, Asia

Lycos Inc. Wednesday inked a deal for its Net phone service in Europe, and across the globe it forged new alliances for its Lycos Asia ambitions.

The portal player said it will team with Access Power, Inc.
to market its flat-rate long-distance Internet phone service Net.Caller in Europe. The service will run at £13 per month ($20) plus ISP fees to any phone within the the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Luxembourg, the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

Net.Caller software allows users can make unlimited long-distance calls from their PC to any standard phone. The Access Power Net.Caller site will be translated into English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch and Swedish as part of the deal.

Lycos Asia, the company’s venture with Singapore Telecom (SingTel) which aims to roll out 10 local portals, Wednesday formed alliances with two regional businesses to bolster its network-in-development.

Lycos Asia has teamed up with leading local conglomerate Ayala Corp. to support the upcoming launch of its Philippines site. Both Ayala and SingTel are investors in local cellular service Globe Telecom, which may play into the network’s future plans.

The venture also allied with MIMOS Berhad, which operates Malaysian ISP JARING, to co-brand the upcoming Malaysia site on its site.

Lycos Asia also announced the addition of the Tripod service to its recently launched Singapore site.