Bell Atlantic Awards Scituate, Mass., Resident With Company's Highest Honor

Bell Atlantic Awards Scituate, Mass., Resident With Company's Highest Honor

Craig Fritz Recognized for Outstanding Service to the Customer

March 30, 1998

NEW YORK -- Craig Fritz of Scituate, Mass., was awarded the company's
highest employee honor, the Leaders in Excellence Award.

Fritz, Bell Atlantic staff director - Operations Assurance and
Support, developed a computer software tool for tracking information
about Bell Atlantic's local network. The software he created has
reduced costs and helped the company better serve customers.

The Bell Atlantic Leaders in Excellence Award will be presented each
year to individual employees and employee teams who have demonstrated
a devotion to quality, along with a commitment to customers or an
outstanding dedication to community service.

Fritz is one of seven individuals and 18 employee teams who will be
honored tomorrow at area celebrations hosted by Bell Atlantic's senior
executives. Honorees were selected from more than 2,000 nominees.

"Congratulations to our champions, who have set a new benchmark
against which future accomplishments will be measured," said Bell
Atlantic Vice Chairman Ivan Seidenberg. "Their best-in-class
performance and dedication to excellence is a model for us all."

Fritz recognized that Bell Atlantic's managers and engineers each had
unique and changing needs for information regarding the local network,
and that no conventional system of formatted reports could adequately
address those needs. He devised a system that collects, correlates
and stores data, while allowing easy access and flexibility to users.
The new system enables managers and engineers to make informed
decisions about investment in the network that better meet customer
demand and reduce costs.

Note to Editors: Photographs are available upon request.

Bell Atlantic - formed through the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX -
is at the forefront of the new communications and information
industry. With 40.5 million telephone access lines and six 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 21 countries.