World-Class Telecommunications Await Goodwill Games

World-Class Telecommunications Await
Goodwill Games

Bell Atlantic Invests $1.2 Million To Expand Lake Placid
Network

Feb. 3, 2000

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - A world-class telecommunications network rich
in fiber optics and high-speed digital switching awaits the world's athletes
who will travel to Lake Placid next month for the Goodwill Games.

Over the last three months, Bell Atlantic has invested $1.2 million to
expand its network in the Lake Placid region, including the addition of 10
miles of fiber-optic cable in and around the event venues in the Lake
Placid region. Bell Atlantic technicians have bolstered the fiber network
with video circuits for TV broadcasts, high-speed data circuits, 400 new
telephone lines and more than 16,000 feet of copper wiring.

In addition, new software has been installed in Bell Atlantic's digital
switching systems in and around Lake Placid. Technicians from as far
away as Buffalo have been brought into the Adirondack region to assist
with the network improvements.

"A small army of Bell Atlantic employees has been working to bring
new fiber optics and digital technology to the various Goodwill Game
sites," said Paul Crotty, Bell Atlantic Group President, New York.
"We've been installing new telecommunications and broadcasting
systems at the Olympic Center in downtown Lake Placid, the bobsled and
luge runs at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Whiteface Mountain skiing facilities,
the MacKenzie-Intervale Ski-Jump Complex and various hotels.

"The Goodwill Games will be brought to the world via some of the
most advanced telecommunications technology available today,"
Crotty added.

Many of the network upgrades will remain in place after the sporting
events are over, providing the Lake Placid region with one of the most
advanced telecommunications systems in the world and a head start on
attracting future high-profile events.

The Goodwill Games will begin with opening ceremonies on Wednesday,
Feb. 16 and will run through Sunday, Feb. 20. These will be the first
Goodwill Games to focus strictly on winter sporting events and will be
broadcast by the TNT television network.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and
information
industry. With nearly 44 million telephone access lines and 12 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.