Bell Atlantic Awards Washington, D.C., Resident With Company's Highest Honor

Bell Atlantic Awards Washington, D.C., Resident With Company's Highest Honor

Lawrence Sullivan Recognized for Outstanding Community Service
to the Whitman-Walker Clinic

March 30, 1998

NEW YORK -- Lawrence Sullivan, of Washington, D.C., has been awarded
Bell Atlantic's highest employee honor, the Leaders in Excellence
Award.

Sullivan, customer service and sales operations manager for Bell
Atlantic Long Distance, earned the award for developing a
comprehensive Web site for the Whitman-Walker Clinic, the
third-largest AIDS services provider in the United States.

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.

Sullivan 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."

By developing a comprehensive, user-friendly website
(http://www.wwc.org), Sullivan provided the Whitman-Walker Clinic with
a cost-effective way to make information about HIV/AIDS prevention and
treatment available to more people. The 95-page website also includes
on-line registration for walkathons and volunteer efforts, an
interactive community bulletin board, and job postings. The site
averages 2,000 pages viewed per week. Adding to the hundreds of hours
he has already dedicated to the project, Sullivan continues to update
and improve the site.

Bell Atlantic also continues its long-term commitment to the clinic
through its Community Threads program,
(http://www.bellatlantic.com/threads), which allows Bell Atlantic
customers to designate one percent of their local phone bill to the
clinic. This program has 25,000 participants in Virginia, Maryland
and Washington, D.C., and has already raised more than $100,000 in
four years.

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.