(FORTUNE Magazine) – Until recently most of Angus Davis' telecom experience came from Phillips Academy Andover, where he was kicked out for hacking into the school's phone system to make free long-distance calls.

Today Davis, 22, and his 32-year-old partner, Mike McCue, head up a venture they hope will be more auspicious. Tellme, launched in April, offers free access to stock quotes, movie listings, restaurants, sports scores, traffic reports, and headlines--over the phone. Sort of a yellow pages on speed. Call a toll-free number and say "stock," and you get readings of the major indexes. Say "Intel," and Tellme delivers price information and history. Tellme's voice-recognition software (an amalgamation of programs developed internally and licensed from software developer Nuance) mines content from partners like CNN, ESPN, MapQuest, and Dow Jones to deliver the information to the caller.

Tellme, based in Mountain View, Calif., is the first to provide this type of Net access over the phone, and the Valley seems psyched to see it happen. Davis and McCue, both Netscape escapees, have raised $53 million in venture capital from heavyweights like former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale's investment group, Benchmark Capital, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Tellme, still privately held, hopes to derive revenues from sponsors and partnerships as well as from short audio ads. It also plans to add e-commerce abilities (say "Pottery Barn," and shop for wine glasses over the phone) and premium services, such as voice-activated phone books and voice mail.

The impressive pedigree makes Tellme the "big dog" in the segment now, says Mark Plakias, an analyst at Kelsey Group, but it will soon face a host of competitors. AOL's Moviefone is launching a similar service, as will BeVocal, Talk2, and Quack.com. Furthermore, the major wireless carriers may offer voice-activated information services within a year. Tellme hopes it can be heard above the static.

--Christine Y. Chen