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YP411 From AT&T's YELLOWPAGES.COM Brings Text Message Business Search to Consumer Cell Phones and PDA Devices

Posted on: Friday, 30 March 2007, 09:00 CDT

PASADENA, Calif., March 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Finding local businesses is just one text message away as a result of a new service launched by YELLOWPAGES.COM ( http://www.yellowpages.com/ ), a subsidiary of AT&T Inc. .

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070330/CGF004 )

To use the service, consumers simply send a text message to YP411 (97411) with a business name or business category, along with a city and state or ZIP code. YELLOWPAGES.COM then returns text message results with up to three listings. Consumers can simply click the phone number included in the results to initiate a call to a business. Additionally, for phones and PDAs that support the capability, consumers can click the WAP link to see more details of the business such as a map or directions.

"As a part of our multimodal strategy, the YP411 text message service adds to the terrific value we are bringing to consumers and local businesses," said Matt Crowley, chief marketing officer of YELLOWPAGES.COM, AT&T. "With YP411, businesses found on YELLOWPAGES.COM have another way to reach consumers. This added distribution is free to all advertisers and businesses found on YELLOWPAGES.COM."

The launch of YP411 bolsters the menu of mobile search services that YELLOWPAGES.COM has rolled out over the past few months, including a Send-to- Mobile feature that allows Internet users to send search results from YELLOWPAGES.COM to their wireless phones in the form of a text message. The company also recently launched an optimized mobile browser interface as well as enhanced MEdia Net capabilities, including a single search box, available to subscribers of AT&T wireless service, formerly Cingular.

"YP411 adds to the growing suite of mobile search services YELLOWPAGES.COM is offering. Giving consumers the ability to text message search requests to five easy-to-remember characters is another way YELLOWPAGES.COM is extending its brand to help local consumers and businesses connect via the digital method of their choice," said Crowley.

There is no cost for consumers to use YELLOWPAGES.COM's YP411 service other than regular text messaging fees charged by their service providers.

A January 2007 eMarketer report projects that the U.S. market for mobile marketing will grow from about $421 million in 2006 to $4.8 billion in 2011. The report also projects that worldwide mobile ad spending as a proportion of worldwide online ad spending will reach 21 percent in 2011, up from 5.4 percent in 2006.**

The YELLOWPAGES.COM Network received approximately 1 billion searches in 2006.

This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss .

About YELLOWPAGES.COM

YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC is a subsidiary of AT&T Inc. Formed in late 2004, the company operates a leading IYP and local search site, YELLOWPAGES.COM. The YELLOWPAGES.COM Nationwide Network provides exposure to up to 33.8 million monthly unique visitors for local information (comScore Media Metrix, February 2007).

*The unique visitor number for the YELLOWPAGES.COM Nationwide Network (Custom Entity) includes unduplicated visitors for the following sites: YELLOWPAGES.COM, AOL Yellow Pages, Switchboard, Yahoo! Local, Yahoo! Yellow Pages and AnyWho.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company in the United States and around the world, with operating subsidiaries providing services under the AT&T brand. AT&T is the recognized world leader in providing IP-based communications services to businesses and the U.S. leader in providing wireless, high speed Internet access, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising through its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding video entertainment offerings to include such next-generation television services as AT&T U-verse(SM) TV. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/ .

AT&T is a registered trademark of AT&T Knowledge Ventures. Subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. provide products and services under the AT&T brand.

** "Mobile Marketing and Advertising" eMarketer, January 2007

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070330/CGF004AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN1PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

YELLOWPAGES.COM

CONTACT: Ed Patterson, YELLOWPAGES.COM, +1-404-213-3106, orepatterson@yellowpages.com ; or Heather Buffington, AT&T Inc.,+1-314-982-0291, or hbuffington@attnews.us

Web site: http://www.att.com/http://www.yellowpages.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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