Verizon Reaffirms Financial Targets

NEW YORK - Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) today reconfirmed its financial targets for 2001 and 2002 which were announced Nov. 30. Those targets are as follows:

• For 2001, Verizon will target earnings per share (EPS) growth of approximately
  8 percent, with earnings ranging from $3.13 to $3.17 per share.
• For 2002, Verizon is targeting EPS growth of approximately 12 percent, with full-year EPS ranging from $3.49 to $3.54 per share.

Verizon also reaffirmed its target range for fourth quarter 2000 earnings of 76 to 78 cents per share and said it expected the following operating highlights:

• Verizon continues to install approximately 3,500 DSL (digital subscriber line) lines per day and has already exceeded its year-end target of 500,000 DSL subscribers.
• Verizon has already exceeded its year-end target of one million New York long-distance subscribers. On Monday, Verizon said it would promptly re-file its application to offer long-distance service in Massachusetts. The company also remains on track to file in several other states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, next year.
• Verizon Wireless continues to generate solid subscriber growth and anticipates a stronger fourth quarter than a year ago.

"We have a great deal of experience operating in the most economically mature and competitive markets in the country, and we continue to see strong demand and volumes, especially for our high-growth data, DSL, long-distance and wireless services," said Verizon Chairman and co-CEO Charles R. Lee. "We expect demand to continue at current levels in 2001, and we are also making rapid progress integrating our two companies and realizing merger synergies. These will enable us to deliver on our financial targets to our shareowners."

"Competition is part of the fabric of our business, and we are focused on distinguishing ourselves by providing service at the levels our customers demand," said Verizon President and co-CEO Ivan Seidenberg. "Throughout our wireline service territories, we've agreed to some of the toughest service standards in the country and we have exceeded them. The integration of our two companies is predicated on improving service quality, and our planned capital program for 2001 will enable us to continue to do so.

"We are confident in our ability to execute our business plan and sustain profitable growth," Seidenberg said. "In fact, given the opportunity, we will continue to buy back shares under our previously announced program."

Verizon will announce fourth quarter and full-year 2000 financial results on Feb. 1. The company will provide further detail on its business planning and financial outlook for 2001 in a meeting with the financial community on Feb. 7. The meeting will be conducted as a webcast.

Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, 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 more than 101 million access line equivalents and more than 26 million wireless customers. A Fortune 10 company with more than 260,000 employees and approximately $60 billion in 1999 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 .

NOTE: This news release contains statements about expected future events and financial results that are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following important factors could affect future results and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements: materially adverse changes in economic conditions in the markets served by us or by companies in which we have substantial investments; material changes in available technology; the final outcome of federal, state, and local regulatory initiatives and proceedings, including arbitration proceedings, and judicial review of those initiatives and proceedings, pertaining to, among other matters, the terms of interconnection, access charges, universal service, and unbundled network element and resale rates; the extent, timing, success, and overall effects of competition from others in the local telephone and toll service markets; the timing and profitability of our entry into the in-region long distance market; our ability to combine former Bell Atlantic and GTE operations, satisfy regulatory conditions and obtain revenue enhancements and cost savings following the merger; the profitability of our entry into the nationwide broadband access market; the ability of Verizon Wireless to combine operations and obtain revenue enhancements and cost savings; our ability to convert our ownership interest in Genuity Inc. into a controlling interest consistent with regulatory conditions, and Genuity's ensuing profitability; and our accounting assumptions are subject to review by regulatory agencies, including the SEC, and changes in the assumptions as required by those agencies or any changes in the accounting rules or their application could result in an impact on earnings.