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Primus Canada Launches Telemarketing GuardTM First of its kind innovation gives consumers more control
over unwanted calls.
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Toronto, ON September 20, 2007 - Primus Canada today announced the launch of Telemarketing GuardTM, a new home phone service feature – free to Primus Home Phone customers - that will dramatically reduce the number of unsolicited telemarketing calls received by Primus customers. Telemarketing GuardTM is an easy to use feature that automatically identifies phone callstelemarketers, and can block the call, send the call to voice mail, or allow the call to proceed depending on the customer’s preference. Users can also create their own “deny” list to reject permanently specific telemarketer numbers and create an “allow” list for certain telemarketers from whom they may wish to receive calls, by pressing *44 after the call and following the simple voice prompts. Unlike other services or technologies that require telemarketers to comply with guidelines or adhere to restrictions, Telemarketing GuardTM provides a service that prevents telemarketers from getting through to customers’ home phones resulting in fewer unwanted interruptions. It is also advantageous as compared to the proposed ‘Do not Call Registry’ that remains in the works, in that Telemarketing GuardTM is currently available, and that customers using Telemarketing GuardTM can be selective about who they may or may not want to hear from. “For the most part, people do not like receiving calls from telemarketers,” said Ted Chislett, President of Primus Canada. “Often, telemarketing calls interfere with family time, and they sometimes feature aggressive sales tactics that our customers have said they don’t want to deal with.” A survey of Primus customers revealed that over 90% found telemarketing calls “annoying” or “extremely annoying.” When asked if they would use a service to reduce the number of telemarketing calls, over 90% responded favourably. The patent-pending Telemarketing GuardTM is an intelligent solution that tackles the problem of telemarketers in two ways. First, the system has the ability to evaluate and detect calls coming from frequent mass telemarketers. Second, the system easily allows customers to identify any call as an unwanted caller by pressing *44 after an unwanted call. Future calls from that number will be blocked by Telemarketing GuardTM so that customer will no longer be interrupted. Additionally, the more customers that identify a specific number as unwanted will result in that number being added to the overall Telemarketing GuardTM database, ultimately benefiting all Telemarketing GuardTM users and giving them the ability to refine the database on an ongoing basis. “Telemarketing GuardTM puts the consumer back in charge of who has the right to interrupt their privacy,” said Chislett. “If customers want to receive calls from telemarketers, they absolutely can. But if they don’t want to, they can stop most of them simply and permanently.” Telemarketing GuardTM will be offered free to home phone customers on Primus Canada’s network starting in September. Currently, Primus Canada’s network covers over three million Canadian households. About Primus Canada For more information, please contact: Jeannie Tsang / Erin O’Reilly Matt Stein |