Verizon Extends In-Language Support to Asian and Russian Consumers in New England

NEW YORK - Verizon's Asian and Russian consumers in New England can do business with Verizon using their native languages, now that Verizon has expanded its consumer sales and solutions center here.

The center, located in Queens, currently serves a mass market of 365,000 consumers in New York City who speak Chinese, Korean or Russian. It will now also serve an estimated 75,000 New England consumers who will be able to select which of those languages they prefer for their marketing materials, product ordering and sales support.

"Verizon is committed to meeting the language and other individual needs of our diverse consumer clients," said Ellen Corcoran, Verizon's senior vice president for national sales.. "Our trained representatives are highly skilled at helping identify the right products and services to provide tailored solutions."

Verizon has a long history of multicultural support. For example, in the late 1960's, New York Telephone, a Verizon predecessor company, began supporting consumers wishing to communicate in Spanish; support in Chinese was offered more than 10 years ago. Today, more than 1,000 employees staff 13 Verizon consumer multicultural sales and solution centers in various parts of the country, communicating with customers in Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Vietnamese, Korean, Spanish and Russian. Expanding on the success of its multicultural approach to consumers, Verizon also created a special center for Hispanic businesses, enabling customers who prefer to communicate in Spanish to receive product and service support.

Consumers in New England can call 888-878-9188 to communicate in Chinese; 800-483-7772 to communicate in Korean; and 877-250-7400 to communicate in Russian.

Verizon Communications Inc.

With more than $71 billion in annual revenues, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon has a diverse work force of 212,000 in four business units: Domestic Telecom provides customers based in 28 states with wireline and other telecommunications services, including broadband. Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 45.5 million voice and data customers across the United States. Information Services operates directory publishing businesses and provides electronic commerce services. International includes wireline and wireless operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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