NYNEX Proposes 25-cent Pay Phone Rate in MA, NH and Vermont; New FCC Rules Drive Change

January 24, 1997

CONTACT: Jack Hoey, Boston 617-743-3677; Erle Pierce, Manchester, NH

603-641-1651; Joan Jamieson, Burlington, VT 802-863-0797

NYNEX Proposes 25-cent Pay Phone Rate in MA, NH and Vermont; New FCC Rules Drive Change

Boston, MA -- Jan. 24 -- NYNEX today filed with

regulators in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont to

remove the tariffs that regulate 10-cent local calls at pay

phones in those states. Along with the filing, NYNEX

notified commissioners in the three states that it intends

to raise its pay phone rate to 25 cents in early April under

new FCC industry rules.

The company made the filing to comply with provisions

of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and recent FCC

guidelines for the pay phone industry. The new FCC rules are

intended to remove competitive barriers in the pay phone

industry, require market-based pricing, and provide fair

compensation for all pay phone providers.

The 10-cent pay phone rate was set in 1955 in

Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. Under the new FCC

rules, states must remove barriers to pay phone competition,

set coin rates to fairly compensate all pay phone providers,

and allow them to move toward market rates for their

services.

NYNEX said the pay phone rate changes will result in

appropriate offsetting adjustments in the rates for other

services. Details of those adjustments will be filed in

Massachusetts with the companys annual price cap filing in

June. In Vermont and New Hampshire, details will be filed

with the state regulatory commission in the coming

weeks.

Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont are three of

the four U.S. states in which a local pay phone call is

still a dime. The fourth is Arkansas.

NYNEX is a global communications and media

corporation that provides a full range of services in the

northeastern United States and high-growth markets around

the world, including the United Kingdom, Thailand,

Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland,

Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The corporation is a leader

in telecommunications, wireless communications, directory

publishing and video entertainment and information services.

NYNEX is also managing sponsor of FLAG -- Fiberoptic Link

Around the Globe -- the world's longest undersea fiber optic

communications cable.

FAX copies of recent NYNEX news releases are

available free of charge, 24 hours a day. Call

1-800-331-1214 and an automated system will provide

instructions.