Bell Atlantic - Massachusetts Slashes Prices for Data Services

Bell Atlantic - Massachusetts Slashes Prices for Data Service

Rural Areas Benefit from Reductions of Up to 50
Percent for Frame Relay Service

July 8, 1998

WORCESTER, Mass. -- Bell Atlantic today announced price reductions
of up to 50 percent for Frame Relay service, a popular data
communications service.

The company eliminated mileage charges for transmitting data between its
central offices in Massachusetts. The change will make Frame Relay
service more economical for rural businesses who need to transfer data to
distant locations and provide a cost effective means to connect to the
internet.

"With Frame Relay service, you can easily connect your business to other
company locations, vendors, clients or your Internet service provider (ISP)
," said Robert Mudge, Bell Atlantic -- Massachusetts vice president. "It's a
great way to conduct electronic commerce, and it allows businesses to
compete efficiently wherever they are located."

Previously, an Athol customer using a 56 kilobits per second (Kbps) Frame
Relay circuit paid about $175 a month. With the new pricing, the same
customer will pay $112, a 36 percent reduction.

A customer with a 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) Frame Relay circuit
who is one mile from Bell Atlantic's central office in Worcester formerly
paid approximately $1,456 a month. That customer will now pay $990, a
32 percent reduction.

Frame Relay is a flexible data communications service that allows
businesses to link satellite offices as well as other customers, suppliers-or
virtually anyone. The high speed capability of Frame Relay service supports
information intensive applications like technical and graphical imaging.

"The elimination of mileage charges is significant for our rural customers,"
said Gabe Prado, Bell Atlantic Frame Relay Regional Staff Director. "If
your ISP is three towns away, or you are located in a rural area and need to
transmit data traffic, the new prices make it very economical to make a
connection."

The price reductions affect all speeds of Bell Atlantic's Frame Relay
Service between 56 Kbps and 1.5 Mbps.

Bell Atlantic -- formed through the merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX --
is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry.
With more than 41 million telephone access lines and 6.7 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.