BELL ATLANTIC-VIRGINIA DROPS EASTERN SHORE TOLLS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 1996

BELL ATLANTIC-VIRGINIA DROPS
EASTERN SHORE
TOLLS

RICHMOND, VA - Bell Atlantic customers on Virginia's Eastern Shore
will no longer have to make toll calls to reach communities they used
to call long distance under Bell Atlantic's new Community Choice Plan.

The toll routes slated to disappear April 1 are:

• Onancock - Tangier

• Onancock - Temperanceville
• Onancock - Eastville
• Belle Haven - Parksley

Bell Atlantic-Virginia sent notices this week to some 16,500 Eastern
Shore customers advising them of the upcoming change and asking them
to choose a payment plan for the expanded local calling.

The Community Choice Plan gives customers a choice of three plans for
the expanded local calling:

• PER-MINUTE OPTION --A per-minute charge is applied to all
  calls made
  to the new area(s). Each call made to the new area(s) will be
  charged at the rate of 7.9 cents for the first minute and 4.5 cents
  for each additional minute.

• TIMED MESSAGE UNIT OPTION -- Calls that last five minutes or
  less
  will be billed at 20 cents. For each additional five minutes, or
  fraction thereof, customers will be billed an additional 20 cents
  for calls to the new areas.

• FLAT RATE OPTION -- Customers pay a flat rate charge each
  month ,
  per line, to make unlimited calls to the new area(s). The charge
  for residential customers is $15 in addition to the basic monthly
  rate; the charge for business customers is an added $26.

When the Community Choice Plan takes effect, customers will only have
to dial a seven-digit number to reach the extended area. Today, the
call requires 11 digits (1-area code-XXX-XXXX).

The four Eastern Shore routes are among 27 routes statewide that will
be converted to the Community Choice Plan during 1996. Tolls on the
most heavily used of the routes, Petersburg-Richmond, will vanish
June 1.

The Community Choice Plan will result in an overall reduction in his
company's revenues of $5 million. This follows a $22 million revenue
loss in 1994 when Bell Atlantic expanded local calling in the state
under its Contiguous Local Calling Plan.

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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for more information, contact:

Paul Miller, 800-491-0190 (Va. Only) /
804-772-1460
miller@ba.com

Jeff Davis, 804-787-9966