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                                                                    EXHIBIT 99.1


               WORLD ACCESS COMMENTS ON FOURTH QUARTER RESULTS AND
                        ANNOUNCES FINANCING INITIATIVES

Atlanta, Georgia - February 15, 2001 - WORLD ACCESS, INC. (NASDAQ: WAXS)
announced today that it expects to report financial results for the quarter and
year ended December 31, 2000 that reflect a revenue and earnings shortfall from
previous company projections. The Company intends to report financial results on
March 6, 2001.

While the financial results for the year 2000 have not yet been finalized, the
Company currently expects revenue for the quarter ended December 31 to fall
short of the Company's previous forecast by roughly 15%. The revenue shortfall
comes primarily from the carrier business, which has suffered significantly as a
result of the restrictive capital markets for emerging telecom providers who
consume most of the Company's carrier services. The Company also expects EBITDA
and earnings to fall short of projections. Additionally, the Company will take a
one-time charge related to the termination of the STAR Telecommunications
(NASDAQ: STRX) transaction.

In addition, the Company reports that it has taken a number of measures to
restructure existing debt obligations and provide additional sources of cash and
future funding availability, which, despite recent deterioration in the
Company's liquidity position, is expected to fund operations for the next 12-18
months.

Based on current discussions with a noteholder group, the Company expects to
reach an agreement with a majority of the holders of its 13.25% Senior Notes
(the "Notes") that will allow the Company to retire approximately $70.6 million
principal amount of the Notes, rather than the approximately $161.4 million
principal amount which was to be retired pursuant to the Company's
previously-announced tender offer. The agreement would also modify certain
covenants in the existing indenture governing the Notes, which would grant the
Company greater flexibility in future financing activities. In exchange for the
foregoing, World Access will pay the noteholders a $10 million consent fee and
issue 32 million shares of common stock to the noteholders. The Company will
also issue 16 million common shares (or warrants to purchase 16 million common
shares, exercisable at a nominal price), which would be earned after 2002 under
certain circumstances. Finally, the Notes will be secured, but will be
subordinate to the Company's senior lenders or any future senior lenders. The
Company expects to reach a tentative agreement with a majority of noteholders on
the foregoing terms in the next several days and to finalize a definitive
agreement over the next several


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weeks.

World Access has also received a commitment letter from major lending
institutions for a revolving credit facility of up to $100 million in borrowing
capacity, of which $55 million will be underwritten by the initial participants.
The balance of the facility will be contingent upon successful syndication.

In addition, World Access is in discussions with a major vendor and shareholder
pursuant to which certain amounts owed by World Access will be converted into a
new series of preferred stock, which will be convertible into common stock.

Company management is currently pursuing a number of additional alternatives
that it expects will provide a further liquidity cushion. These alternatives
include incremental asset-based debt financing and the sale of non-strategic
assets and operations. The Company believes that these measures address the
recent deterioration in the Company's liquidity position. Several factors
contributed to the Company's decrease in available cash, including increased
usage of working capital stemming from lower revenues in the fourth quarter, the
repayment in cash of over $80 million in debt during the fourth quarter, and a
precipitous decline in the value of the Company's investment in BATM Advanced
Communications (London Stock Exchange: BVC), which made up nearly 20% of World
Access' cash and short-term investments at the end of the third quarter. The
BATM stock was received by the Company as partial consideration for its sale of
Telco Systems, Inc. to BATM in April, 2000 and is restricted for sale until
April, 2001.

Management considers that the current business environment requires tight fiscal
oversight and will continue to conduct operations accordingly. Cost cuts have
been made in almost every area of SG&A and management continues to look for
further cost-cutting opportunities.

John D. Phillips, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of World Access, said,
"The deterioration in the capital markets since last summer, particularly for
the emerging telecom sector, has severely constricted our carrier business,
resulting in declining revenues and increased working capital requirements. This
combined with a 75% drop in the value of BATM stock since October, has left us
with considerably less cash than we had anticipated. However, we believe the
agreements and other measures that we have announced today return us to a
position of adequate liquidity to fund operations according to our business plan
for the next 12 to 18 months."

There can be no assurance that the agreements discussed above will be executed
or that the terms of any financing will be acceptable or favorable to the
Company or that these initiatives will succeed in insuring that the Company has
sufficient liquidity to meet its future obligations.

As a result of the changing market conditions, the Company is not prepared to
issue guidance for future reporting periods.

About World Access

World Access is focused on being a leading provider of bundled voice, data and
Internet services to small- to medium-sized business customers located


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throughout Europe. In order to accelerate its progress toward a leadership
position in Europe, World Access is acting as a consolidator for the highly
fragmented retail telecom services market, with the objective of amassing a
substantial and fully integrated business customer base. To date, the Company
has acquired several strategic assets, including Facilicom International, which
operates a Pan-European long distance network and carries traffic for
approximately 200 carrier customers, NETnet, with retail sales operations in 9
European countries, and WorldxChange, with over 750,000 retail accounts in the
US and Europe. World Access, branding as NETnet, offers services throughout
Europe, including long distance, internet access and mobile services. The
Company provides end-to-end international communication services over an
advanced asynchronous transfer mode internal network that includes gateway and
tandem switches, an extensive fiber network encompassing tens of millions of
circuit miles and satellite facilities. For additional information regarding
World Access, please refer to the Company's website at www.waxs.com.

This press release may contain financial projections or other forward-looking
statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Reform
Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause
actual results to differ materially. These risks include: inability to obtain
adequate financing or financing on terms acceptable or favorable to the Company;
inability to restructure existing debt obligations; potential inability to
identify, complete and integrate acquisitions; difficulties in expanding into
new business activities; delays in new service offerings; the potential
termination of certain service agreements or the inability to enter into
additional service agreements; and other risks described in the Company's SEC
filings, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 1999, as amended, the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for
the quarters ended March 31, 2000 and June 30, 2000, as amended, the Company's
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000, and the
Company's Registration Statements on Forms S-3 (No. 333-79097) and S-4 (No.
333-37750 and 333-44864), and the Company's Report on Form 8-K dated January 10,
2001, all of which are incorporated by reference into this press release.

World Access Contact:               Michele Wolf
(404-231-2025)                      V.P. of Investor Relations
http://www.waxs.com