Bell Atlantic To New Jersey: Wired? Yes, We're Wired!

Bell Atlantic To New Jersey: Wired? Yes, We're Wired!

Progress Report on
Opportunity New Jersey Shows Infrastructure Modernization Commitment On
Schedule

February 6, 1997

NEWARK, N.J. -- Three years after the New Jersey Board
of Public
Utilities (BPU) took unprecedented steps to encourage construction of
the information superhighway, Bell Atlantic reported today that its
own network modernization effort is being delivered as promised.

"Opportunity New Jersey, the Bell Atlantic project, has created new
jobs, helped fuel the economy, and linked homes and businesses to 21st
century technologies," said Bell Atlantic-New Jersey President Len J.
Lauer.

During his progress report today to the board, Lauer reaffirmed Bell
Atlantic's pledge to complete the network infrastructure program by
the year 2010.

"Before the century clicker hits zero, Bell Atlantic will have made
significant progress on a telecommunications project equal in scope
and ambition to some of New Jersey's grandest capital improvement
efforts," Lauer said.

In 1993, Bell Atlantic-New Jersey made a commitment to accelerate the
construction of an advanced statewide telecommunications network and
complete it by 2010. That commitment, known as Opportunity New Jersey,
was approved by the BPU that year as part of a new regulation plan
for the company that replaced traditional rate-of-return regulation.

Since then, the project already has improved New Jersey's quality of
life in several ways:

• Bell Atlantic built and operates the nation's only broadband,
  fiber-optic television network in Dover Township;

• Approximately 2,000 ONJ-related jobs were added to Bell
  Atlantic-New Jersey's work force;

• New Jersey's new telecommunications infrastructure has attracted
  new businesses to the state;

• Bell Atlantic's Interactive Distance Learning Service network is
  wired into167 schools statewide - a fact that makes New Jersey home
  to the most aggressively deployed interactive distance-learning
  network in the nation;

• Digital switching and fiber-optic technology are deployed in every
  county in New Jersey;

• Hospitals can now make remote diagnoses, arrange long-distance
  consultations and exchange voluminous records using Bell Atlantic's
  telecommunications technologies.

"Bell Atlantic is already meeting the board's mission of stimulating
statewide business development by delivering new technology," Lauer
said. "We're growing along with the state's economy, thanks to the
foresight of the board and its support of our Opportunity New Jersey
program."

Bell Atlantic Corporation (NYSE: BEL)
is at the forefront of the new
communications, entertainment and information industry. In the
mid-Atlantic region, the company is the premier provider of local
telecommunications and advanced services. Globally, it is one of the
largest investors in the high-growth wireless communication
marketplace. Bell Atlantic also owns a substantial interest in
Telecom Corporation of New Zealand and is actively developing
high-growth national and international business opportunities in all
phases of the industry.

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