Bell Atlantic Expands Martinsburg Assembly Center

Bell Atlantic Expands Martinsburg Assembly Center

BARTAC's Work Force Could Double By End of Year

May 16, 2000

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Bell Atlantic could double its workforce at a telecommunications equipment assembly center here by year's end. That announcement came today at a news conference hosted by West Virginia Gov. Cecil H. Underwood and Dennis Bone, president and CEO of Bell Atlantic - West Virginia.

"We plan to add 24 jobs at the Bell Atlantic Remote Terminal Assembly Center (BARTAC) by July 1," Bone said. "Further, we tentatively plan to add up to another 25 jobs at the center by the end of this year."

The center currently employs 54, most of whom are cable splicing technicians.

"This is another example of how Bell Atlantic is growing with West Virginia," Bone added.

To accommodate the increased workforce, BARTAC recently expanded its existing floor space in the center by more than 70 percent, adding a mezzanine. When fully staffed, production at the center is expected to quadruple.

BARTAC, located at 2006 Mid-Atlantic Parkway, opened in 1992. Its employees assemble remote switching terminals for Bell Atlantic's East Coast service area, which stretches from Maine to the Virginias. Remote switches allow Bell Atlantic to provide advanced telecommunications services at distances beyond the reach of the company's call switching centers.

"We're bringing more highly skilled, high paying jobs to the Eastern Panhandle," said Bone. "I'm confident that other businesses will follow Bell Atlantic's lead in increasing their presence in West Virginia as our state further develops its workforce for the 21st century."

"Today's announcement is another example of Bell Atlantic's commitment to West Virginia's growing economy and our state's increasing emphasis on technology," Gov. Underwood said. "These high-tech, high-end jobs literally lay the foundation for improved telecommunications in our state and continued economic growth as a result."

In addition to the BARTAC operation, Bell Atlantic operates an Internet service center in Martinsburg. The center, which employs 90 workers, provides billing and maintenance services to some 180,000 customers of BellAtlantic.net, the company's Internet service provider.

Also, Bell Atlantic operates a storage and distribution facility for telephone directories adjacent to the BARTAC center. The workforce in the directory distribution center numbers close to 60.

Bell Atlantic's employment in West Virginia is currently at 3,200, up more than 12 percent over two years ago.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry. With more than 44 million telephone access lines and more than 20 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations and investments in 23 countries.