Bell Atlantic NYNEX mobile introduces new cellular service in New York

ORANGEBURG, NY -- Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile today introduced a unique cellular communications plan that is designed to meet the needs of consumers in the New York metropolitan area who once thought they couldn't afford a cellular phone. Known as the "affordable portable," TalkAlong(SM) is an easy-to-purchase, simple-to-use, affordably-priced service with the lowest access rates available in New York.

The service will only be available to Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile customers. This product is the second major benefit the newly formed company has brought to the highly competitive New York market in the last month. On July 10, the company launched its MobileReach(R) Network, giving customers the largest East Coast footprint and the lowest roaming rates available from Maine to the Carolinas.

TalkAlong is designed for those users who -- unlike many who travel great distances each day with their phones -- want to use cellular service primarily in their home county or borough. From local businesses to busy parents, it is designed to meet the changing lifestyle needs of a new generation of cellular phone users.

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile is responding to its customers who have said their top priority in wireless phone service is a low monthly access price.

"If you thought local cellular access rates could never meet your expectations for price and convenience, TalkAlong will change your mind," said Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile President - New York Metro Region, Rick Conrad. "Customers have made it clear that a low access fee is a top priority for their cellular needs -- now our customers can get it right here in New York."

TalkAlong breaks the price barrier, at $14.99 as a basic monthly access charge. It allows customers to select a "local zone" -- Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, Suffolk, or one of the five boroughs of New York City -- and pay one low price for calls no matter what time of day or night. Any calls made or received outside the local zone cost $.99, eliminating such confusing variables as peak or off-peak, and roaming charges. Customers who choose Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, or Suffolk county can make and receive calls in their local zone at $.39 per airtime minute. Customers who select one of New York City's five boroughs will pay $.49 per minute inside their local zone.

"TalkAlong's name says what it is -- an around-town communicator. It's made for those of us who are more likely to cruise down the street than the Information Superhighway," said Conrad. "Our customer base grew by more than 57 percent in 1994 -- with more than half of that growth coming from personal use. We expect TalkAlong to really open up the market to even more general consumer and local business customers."

A version of the service was introduced in Washington and Baltimore in April and in northern New Jersey in May, and will be offered in most of Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's markets by the end of the year.

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile, headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast and the second largest provider in the United States. The company offers a full range of wireless voice, data, and paging communications solutions to its three million customers in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and, through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest. The company was formed in July 1995 through the combination of Bell Atlantic Mobile's and NYNEX Mobile's cellular operations. The new company has more than 5,000 employees.

NYNEX is a global communications and media company 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, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The Corporation is a leader in the telecommunications, wireless communications, cable television, directory publishing and entertainment and information services.