Bell Atlantic Honors Virginia Hartling With Supplier Excellence Award

Bell Atlantic Honors Virginia Hartling
With Supplier Excellence Award

Outstanding Customer Service Sets Business Apart

June 3, 1999

NEW YORK -- Virginia Hartling, a role model for women and members
of the deaf community, is being honored by Bell Atlantic for her
company's outstanding customer service.

Her business, Hartling Communications, Inc., of Burlington, Mass, is a
winner of the Bell Atlantic Supplier Excellence Award.

Some 18 years ago, Hartling helped her husband, Ted, found the company,
a distributor of specialized telecommunications equipment for people with
disabilities, in their home. Hartling, who is deaf, took over the business
after her husband's death and became president and CEO. Today, she runs
Hartling Communications with the help of her two children.

Hartling will accept the award from Bell Atlantic Vice President
Consumer Sales and Service, Ellen Corcoran, during a ceremony at 2:30
p.m., June 7, at the Marlborough Learning

Center in Marlborough Mass. The Learning Center is home to the Bell
Atlantic Center for Customers with Disabilities.

Hartling Communications distributes equipment, such as telephone
amplifiers and TTY/TDD to Bell Atlantic customers with disabilities
under a statewide program. The Learning Center is also home to the Bell
Atlantic Center for Customers with Disabilities.

"Our suppliers play a vital role in Bell Atlantic's mission to care for
our customers, anticipate their needs and provide them with outstanding
service," said Corcoran. "The Supplier Excellence Awards
program enables us to recognize winners, such as Hartling
Communications, for their hard work and dedication to excellence."

Through the years, Hartling has expanded its business to better address
customer needs. The company now serves customers out of two locations
(Burlington and Lowell, Mass.,) and meets the needs of Spanish-speaking
customers in their own language. Hartling is the only agent from the
initial group of five selected to participate in the product distribution
program in 1992 that continues to meet Bell Atlantic's ever-increasing
quality and service standards. In fact, Bell Atlantic customers gave
Hartling a greater than 97 percent satisfaction ranking in the company's
most recent customer satisfaction survey.

"Our customers have truly unique need and abilities," said
Hartling. "Serving those needs effectively is our primary corporate
goal. It is gratifying to know that our efforts are recognized."

Hartling Communications is one of only nine Bell Atlantic suppliers, out
of more than 6,5000 to earn the company's Supplier Excellence Award.
The suppliers were judged on key performance attributes, including
quality, responsiveness, delivery and customer satisfaction.

The annual Supplier Excellence Awards program enables Bell Atlantic to
thank the winners publicly for helping Bell Atlantic maintain its position
as a market leader. In addition, the award encourages other suppliers to
raise their level of performance.

The other winners of the Bell Atlantic Supplier Excellence Award are:

• Ameriphone, Inc., Garden Grove, Calif.
• Avanti/Case-Hoyt Corp., Miami, Fla.
• Central Pennsylvania Transportation Inc., Lancaster, Penn.
• Frequency Marketing Inc., Milford, Ohio
• Fraser Papers Inc., Stamford, Conn.
• Moore North America, Inc., Lake Forest, Ill.
• Siecor Corp., Hickory, N.C.
• Transportation Displays Inc., New York, N.Y.

Editors note: Reporters interested in attending the award celebration
should call Sharon Beadle at 212-395-1802.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and
information industry. With 43 million telephone access lines and nine
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.