Verizon Extending Network to Deliver Advanced Services to Large Business, Government Customers

NEW YORK -- Verizon today announced a new initiative, Enterprise Advance, to interconnect its powerful local networks and provide large business and government customers with advanced communications services that go well beyond the company's existing offerings.

Building on Verizon's already well-regarded local service to enterprise customers, Verizon will offer large companies, governments and others data services that stretch beyond their local territories to affiliates or subsidiaries in other regions around the U.S. Enterprise Advance services include network management and data storage, business recovery, security, remote access, voice and data networking.

"With our most recent long-distance approval in Virginia, Verizon can provide long-distance voice and data service to roughly 90 percent of our customers, and the three remaining approvals are just a few months away," said Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg. "This means we can now offer the kinds of long-distance data services these businesses need and want."

Seidenberg stressed the Verizon approach is disciplined and strategic. "We have the strongest local telecommunications network in the nation thanks to years of focused investment. Now we will increasingly connect the parts of that local network so we can offer the same quality and reliability to customers who operate across a region or around the country.

"Verizon is a strong, stable company and a trusted provider. With Enterprise Advance, we will offer a set of capabilities and products to our existing customers, many of whom are looking for alternatives in these areas," he said.

The company will offer its new services to the enterprise market comprised of Fortune 1000 corporations, governments, and finance, education and healthcare entities.

"Customers want genuine routing diversity and network redundancy from a provider they know," said Eduardo R. Menascé, president, Verizon Enterprise Solutions Group. "With this initiative we will create solutions on demand from the best of what Verizon has to offer. As our customers come to us, we will give them what they need across geographic boundaries by simply connecting the pieces of our existing telecommunications system."

Since Verizon already has strong relationships with thousands of business and government customers, the company's new capabilities will enable those customers to consolidate far more of their telecommunications services with Verizon. Furthermore, customers have reacted enthusiastically in the past as Verizon swiftly moved into other new businesses and similar success is anticipated with this initiative. Today, Verizon serves nearly 10 million long-distance customers and is the nation's fourth largest long-distance company. And Verizon Wireless, the nation's number one wireless company, continues to be the industry leader in adding new subscribers.

Verizon Services Deliver Customer Value, Meet Customer Requirements

With a string of recent long-distance regulatory approvals and only three more to go, Verizon can offer enterprise customers the nationwide, regional or intercity networks and services they require. Verizon expects to receive long-distance approval for the rest of its service area by the end of the first quarter of 2003.

Verizon's Enterprise Advance initiative will create a network with the national reach to deliver the emerging technologies that drive ultimate customer value -- increased productivity, lower costs and improved availability, reliability and security of information.

At the same time, Verizon Wireless is continuing a nationwide network expansion to support the Express Network, its high-speed wireless data service. Verizon Wireless was the first carrier to provide enterprise customers with third generation (3G) technological options for the wireless transmission of mission-critical data and remote access to their intranets.

Verizon Enterprise Advance Includes High-Speed, IP-Based Network

The new enterprise services arsenal will include transparent LAN/gigabit, fast packet and IP (Internet protocol) services, optical networking and voice switching enhancements. With these, Verizon for the first time will offer a complete range of products and services with national service and support capabilities, becoming a one-stop, single point-of-contact provider for enterprise customers coast-to-coast.

Enterprise Advance will be based on an optical and IP backbone offering customers "any-to-any" transmission, a network that is indifferent to the protocols used in systems at either end of a transmission, allowing firms to communicate seamlessly across the Verizon network.

Business and government customers in the Northeast's I-95 corridor, reaching from Boston to Virginia, will be the first focus for Enterprise Advance.

The company will then build out its IP backbone to further connect its national service territory in locations like Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle and Tampa. This element of Enterprise Advance will give Verizon the ability to deliver enterprise services in 56 key U.S. markets.

The Verizon backbone network will enable customers to leverage the investment made in existing corporate networks and capabilities, while testing new technologies and applications that promise continued productivity enhancements.

Enterprise Advance customers also will benefit from enhanced customer care from Verizon, including improved billing, ordering, repair and account management services. The current innovative Web-based capabilities that enable anytime-anywhere account access for customers will also be expanded.

Over the past 16 months, Verizon has invested to expand the company's networks in Dallas, Seattle and Los Angeles to compete directly with the dominant local carriers. Enterprise Advance sets the stage for the same type of competition with the traditional long-distance carriers.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 135.0 million access line equivalents and 31.5 million Verizon Wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. With more than $67 billion in annual revenues and more than 236,000 employees, Verizon's global presence extends to more than 35 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.

####