Federal Judge Rules Against CTC in Dispute With Bell Atlantic

Federal
Judge Rules Against CTC in Dispute With Bell Atlantic

Finds
CTC's Use of Confidential Information Violated Fiduciary
Duty to Bell Atlantic

July
31, 1998

BOSTON
-- A federal judge ruled late today that CTC
Communications violated its fiduciary duty by using
confidential information it had obtained when it was a
Bell Atlantic (NYSE: BEL) sales agent to solicit Bell
Atlantic's business customers.

CTC now
competes with Bell Atlantic by re-selling local telephone
services in New England.

Judge
Gene Carter of the U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine
issued a permanent injunction prohibiting CTC "from
making any use or disclosure'' of the confidential
information "in any future solicitation of Bell
Atlantic customers.'' In addition, the judge ordered CTC
to return to Bell Atlantic any of the information it has
not previously returned and to erase any such information
from its computer systems.

"We
are pleased that the court recognized CTC's
misappropriation of our valuable customer information,''
said Jack White, senior attorney for Bell Atlantic.
"We intend to vigorously pursue our remaining claims
against CTC, and we are looking forward to our November
trial in federal court in Maine.''

Last
January, a federal judge in New York issued an injunction
prohibiting CTC from using the confidential information
and from contacting for one year Bell Atlantic customers
that CTC had represented when it was a sales agent for
Bell Atlantic.

In his
decision today -- in response to a motion filed by CTC --
Judge Carter ruled that CTC could contact Bell Atlantic
customers as long as it does not use Bell Atlantic
customer lists or other confidential information.

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 more than seven
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.