Bell Atlantic, Nortel Announce Agreement for Purchase of New Switches, Software

Bell Atlantic, Nortel Announce Agreement for Purchase of New Switches, Software

Advanced Technology Offers Customers More Reliability, Features

March 17, 1998

NEW YORK -- Bell Atlantic and Nortel (Northern Telecom) have signed a
multi-year agreement to modernize Bell Atlantic's advanced
telecommunications network using Nortel's advanced DMS switching
equipment and software. This new technology will help Bell Atlantic
better meet customer needs for new products and advanced services.

The agreement, valued at more than $240 million, includes Nortel's DMS
SuperNode processor upgrades, DMS Enhanced Networks and Primary Rate
ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) hardware and software. The
agreement also provides Bell Atlantic with the flexibility to license
and deploy software features to its customers more rapidly and cost
effectively in increasingly competitive telecommunications markets.

"We're building a public telecommunications network that is
dramatically more reliable and flexible, and offers more features than
ever before," said Paul Lacouture, Bell Atlantic vice president of
Technology and Engineering. "With the new Nortel equipment Bell
Atlantic will be installing throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, we can
more efficiently deliver new services such as Primary Rate ISDN."

"Bell Atlantic is meeting the challenges of the new marketplace - to
deliver high quality products and services to its customers who are
some of the most sophisticated subscribers in the world," said Steve
Schilling, GroupVice President, Major Accounts, Nortel. "Nortel is
proud to be part of Bell Atlantic's efforts to build a network that
can support a more robust mix of products while reducing operating
costs."

Nortel had total 1997 revenues of $15.5 billion and has approximately
73,000 employees worldwide.

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.