Bell Atlantic's CALL54sm Service Enables Marylanders to Get Names, Addresses using Phone Numbers

Bell Atlantic's CALL54^sm Service Enables Marylanders to Get Names, Addresses Using Phone Numbers

'Reverse Directory' Service is Powerful Tool for Consumers, Businesses

June 18, 1998

BALTIMORE -- In an era when fast, easy access to information is
solving problems for more and more people, Bell Atlantic has introduced a
"reverse directory" service that provides names, addresses and zip codes
when only a phone number is available.

The new Bell Atlantic CALL54 Service -- available in parts of Maryland
today -- is designed to assist consumers in verifying addresses of people
who have moved, finding out whose number appears on their Caller ID
unit, and locating businesses.

"About one-third of our customers already use other sources to get this
kind of information and thousands of others have expressed a need for an
easy, accurate reverse directory service," said LeAnn Trimpey, CALL54
product manager at Bell Atlantic. "Options include the Internet,
CD-ROMs, '900' services and paper 'criss-cross' directories, available in
most libraries. But, with CALL54, all you need is a telephone."

To use CALL54 Service, customers dial their own three digit area code
and 555-5454. They will hear an automated voice which offers instructions
on using the service. When they enter an area code and telephone number,
a computer-generated voice speaks the name, address and zip code of the
individual or business to whom the phone number is assigned. Callers can
press "1" to repeat the listing, "2" to have the name spelled or "3" to have
the address spelled.

Each call costs 75 cents and callers can request information on three
separate phone numbers per call. Only phone numbers and addresses of
Maryland customers are available.

CALL54 Service was introduced by Bell Atlantic in New Jersey in 1995
and in West Virginia earlier this year. It has become extremely popular
with businesses and residential customers. In Maryland, the service is
being offered initially in Baltimore and its suburbs and the Maryland
suburbs of Washington.

Bell Atlantic customers in New Jersey and West Virginia have reported no
problems resulting from this automated reverse directory service.
Customers who want to "opt out" of the service should call their Bell
Atlantic business office to have their listings deleted free of charge.

Customers with non-published listings need not call: Their numbers are
automatically excluded from the data base. Customers who have already
requested that their listings be excluded need not call again. Women's
shelters and other agencies where personal safety is an issue also have been
excluded from the database.

As with several other phone services, Bell Atlantic offers its customers the
ability to block any calls to CALL54 service from their line if they wish to
control their phone bill. Blocking calls to the service can be arranged
through customers' Bell Atlantic-Maryland business office.

Bell Atlantic -- formed through the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX --
is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry.
With more than 41 million telephone access lines and 6.7 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
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