Bell Atlantic to Deploy Digital Switch, Bringing Additional Advanced Technology, Services to South Philadelphia

Bell Atlantic to Deploy Digital Switch, Bringing Additional Advanced Technology,
Services to South Philadelphia

Company Investing $11.8 Million to Expand, Upgrade
Local Telephone Network

May 11, 1999

PHILADELPHIA -- Bell Atlantic has installed a new digital switch -- a
state-of-the-art computer that routes calls to their destinations - in its
Dewey telephone office in south Philadelphia as part of an $11.8 million
project to upgrade the local telephone network and provide advanced
telecommunications services to its customers.

The new digital switch replaces two analog switches, furthering Bell
Atlantic's commitment to have 100 percent digital call switching in
Pennsylvania by the end of the year 2000. Calls currently handled by one
of the analog switches in the Dewey phone office will be cut over to the
new digital switch this week. The project will be completed in early
August.

This new technology will allow Bell Atlantic to expand its ability to offer
advanced high-speed data services and provides additional reliability and
survivability in the Bell Atlantic network.

"This project is the latest evidence that Bell Atlantic is meeting our
commitment to deliver a state-of-the-art telecommunications network
throughout Pennsylvania," said Daniel J. Whelan, president of Bell
Atlantic - Pennsylvania. "We are accelerating our construction
schedules to provide rural and urban customers with high-speed access to
the Internet, work-at-home capabilities, as well as a host of other
innovative advanced services."

Whelan said Bell Atlantic has made major strides in deploying advanced
technology in its network:

• Annual spending on the Pennsylvania network nearly doubled
  from $539 million in 1995 to more than $961 million in 1998.

• Miles of fiber-optic cable in the commonwealth increased by
  66 percent from 474,450 in 1995 to 786,106 at the end of 1998.

• Percentage of digital call-routing switches has grown from
  90.3 percent in 1995 to 96 percent at the end of 1998.

• Bell Atlantic Infospeedsm DSL was launched in
  Pennsylvania last fall. Infospeed DSL is a high-speed, always-on
  Internet access services which enables consumers to connect to
  cyberspace at speeds up to 100 times faster than today's fastest
  analog modems.

"Bell Atlantic is keeping its promises to Pennsylvania,"
Whelan said. "We are building and enhancing a public
telecommunications network in Pennsylvania that is the finest in the world
and is a vital part of the commonwealth's economic infrastructure."

In addition to deploying the latest technology, Bell Atlantic has spent tens
of millions of dollars to open Pennsylvania's local telephone market to
competition.

"We have irreversibly opened our markets to competition,"
Whelan said. "We can't force the long distance giants or anyone else
to compete here, but anyone who genuinely wants to enter our markets can
do so."

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and
information industry. With 43 million telephone access lines and nine
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.