Verizon Deploys Additional New Switch Technology To Better Serve Allentown Area Customers

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Verizon Communications has invested more than $2.6 million to modernize the local telecommunications network and provide

additional telephone lines to its customers in the Allentown area.

Verizon recently expanded the capacity of its digital switches, state-of-the-art computers that route calls to their destinations in the Allentown area. This

advanced technology will enable future growth and provides additional capacity and reliability in the Verizon network.

Verizon has more than 41,000 telephone lines in operation in the Allentown area, Slatington and the upper Bucks County communities of Springtown and

Reigelsville that are served by the company's Mountainville telephone office.

"This project is the latest evidence that Verizon is meeting its commitment to deliver a state-of-the-art telecommunications network throughout Pennsylvania,"

said Daniel J. Whelan, president of Verizon 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 Verizon has made major strides in deploying advanced technology in its network:

• Investment in Verizon Pennsylvania's (formerly Bell Atlantic-Pennsylvania) network will reach $1 billion this year, totaling $3 billion in the past three

  years.

• Fiber miles in the Verizon Pennsylvania network increased from 911,308 in 1999 to 997,442 in 2000.
• Verizon Pennsylvania fulfilled its commitment to the state Public Utility Commission to convert all of its 218 switching offices to digital technology by the end

  of last year.

• "Verizon 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, Verizon 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."

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of

wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 125 million access line equivalents and approximately 28 million wireless customers. Verizon is

also the largest directory publisher in the world. A Fortune 10 company with about 260,000 employees and more than $65 billion in annual revenues, Verizon's

global presence extends to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.

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