2 Independent Surveys Rate BigYellow Tops

July 7, 1997

CONTACT: Phil Santoro,
508/762-1326
http://www.bigyellow.com

2 Independent Surveys Rate BigYellow Tops

MIDDLETON, Mass.--The results of two recent independent surveys reaffirm BigYellow(SM)
as the leading shopping directory on the Internet.

The National Yellow Pages Monitor, a division of NFO Research, Inc. of Greenwich,
Conn., working with Yellow Pages analysts The Kelsey Group, released results Thursday
of a national survey it conducted recently of more than 3,500 Internet users about
their experiences with and opinions of more than 20 online directories.

Results indicate that BigYellow (bigyellow.com)
is, far and away, the leader in major categories among shopping directories and now
rivals the major search engines that offer Yellow Pages listings.

In the survey, respondents were polled on the attributes of World Wide Web
sites that offer residential and business phone listings. Those sites include such
major search engines as Yahoo!, Excite, and Lycos, as well as the shopping directories
like BigYellow that provide users with complementary information to help make purchasing
decisions.

In the category of "Name Recognition," BigYellow ranked third, behind
the Yellow Pages sections of search engines Yahoo and Excite. The closest other shopping
directory -- BigBook -- ranked seventh.

Asked to name online directories they have visited, respondents ranked Yahoo!
first and BigYellow second. Four11, BigYellow's partner for residential listings,
ranked third. The closest other shopping directory ranked eighth. Asked which directory
sites they visited most often, respondents ranked BigYellow fourth, behind Yahoo!,
Four11, and Switchboard, which is used primarily for residential listings. The closest
shopping directory ranked ninth.

Other online directories mentioned in the survey included GTE SuperPages,
CitySearch, the AT&T toll-Free 800 Directory, Travelocity, WhoWhere?, DigitalCity,
Ameritech's Internet Yellow Pages, Auto-By-Tel, Bell South's online service, Microsoft
Sidewalk, U.S. West's Dex, WorldPages, Zip2, Banana Pages, Pacific Bell's AtHand,
and On'Village.

In a separate survey conducted by NYPM for the Yellow Pages Publishers Association,
the major trade organization for the Yellow Pages industry, BigYellow was ranked
best in user satisfaction by some 3,300 users of four online directory sites.

In comparing BigYellow to sites offered by U.S. West, Ameritech and BellSouth,
nearly 70 percent of BigYellow respondents said they were "very satisfied"
or "extremely satisfied" with BigYellow, compared to 53.3 percent for respondents
of the other three sites combined.

"We couldn't be more delighted and proud of the results of these two
surveys," said William Wise, president of NYNEX Information Technologies, developers
of BigYellow. "What these surveys say to us is that we have been on the right
path all along with our business strategy to build this business around our customers."

"In this crowded and highly competitive field, we have earned a reputation
of being the trusted intermediary for shoppers by creating a site that is fun, compelling
and fulfilling," Wise added.

With more advertisers than all other on-line directories combined, and 2 million
visitors each month, BigYellow continues to lead the on-line shopping industry in
sales and usage. Having developed electronic directory services for more than a decade,
NYNEX launched its first on-line directory in 1991 and was first on the Web with
a national directory in October, 1995.

In addition to its 17 million U.S. business listings, BigYellow features 100
million U.S. residential listings, a national directory of 10 million E-mail addresses,
and links to directories in 36 foreign countries. BigYellow has strategic relationships
with Infoseek, Inc., NBC, Four11, Netscape Communications Corp., and CNN Interactive,
as well as more than 30 content partners for the most popular topics on its service.
Unique in the industry, BigYellow employs a full-time Customer Services staff that
answers calls during business hours at 1 888-BIG YELLOW.

NYNEX Information Technologies is a subsidiary of NYNEX, a global communications
and media corporation that provides a full range of services in the northeastern
United States and high-growth markets around the world, including the United Kingdom,
Thailand, Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland, and the Czech and
Slovak republics. The corporation is a leader in telecommunications, wireless communications,
directory publishing and video entertainment and information services. NYNEX is also
managing sponsor of FLAG -- Fiberoptic Link Around the Globe -- the world's longest
undersea fiber optic communications cable.

NYNEX news releases are available on the Internet at http://www.ba.com/nr/pastnews.html
or via fax for no charge at 1-800-331-1214.-0- Editors-copies of the surveys are
available.