Bell Atlantic's Unprecedented Growth in West Virginia Continues

Bell Atlantic's Unprecedented Growth
in West Virginia Continues

Record Demand for Phone Lines in 1998

March 4, 1999

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The growth in Bell Atlantic's West Virginia
telecommunications network exploded throughout 1998 as the company
continued to meet unprecedented demands for additional phone lines.

"In only a decade, our network here has expanded by nearly 25 percent,
and most of that growth has occurred in the past two years," said Dennis
Bone, president and CEO of Bell Atlantic - West Virginia.

While some of this growth reflects slight population increases and a
healthier economic climate, Bone suggested much of it can be tied to the
gaining popularity of the Internet and other emerging technologies.

"More and more families need and want additional telephone lines in the
home," said Bone. "They may want a separate line for the computer,
another for the fax machine, and yet another just for the children."

At the end of 1998, Bell Atlantic - West Virginia had nearly 826,000
telephone access lines in service, representing a net increase of
approximately 22,500 over the previous year.

Investing in the Mountain State

The huge demand for new lines has prompted Bell Atlantic to invest at a
record pace to build out its infrastructure. Last year the company spent
roughly $130 million on such things as fiber-optic lines and new, state-of-
the-art switching systems. Since 1988, Bell Atlantic has invested more
than $1 billion in new technology and upgrading of existing facilities in
the state.

"When West Virginians place a call or access the Internet, chances are that
call will travel over laser light through fiber optic cables," said Bone. A
single hair-thin glass fiber is capable of carrying thousands of phone
conversations at the same time.

"We have more than 144,000 circuit miles of optical fibers in place in
West Virginia, 15,000 miles of which were installed just last year," Bone
said.

WEST VIRGINIA 2001

Part of the company's capital investment in 1998 was earmarked for the
continued construction of the state's new WEST VIRGINIA 2001sm
network. A key component of this network is Bell Atlantic's
asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cell relay service. With ATM
technology, voice, data and video communications can travel over a single
phone line at extremely high speeds, providing customers with greater
flexibility.

WEST VIRGINIA 2001, launched late in 1997, is already a reality in
some parts of the state. Government agencies are finding a myriad of
ways to use the network to improve their efficiency and better serve
citizens.

Some courts, for example, use WEST VIRGINIA 2001 for remote
proceedings. Instead of transporting a prisoner from jail to courtroom
via a police vehicle over city streets, WEST VIRGINIA 2001 accomplishes
the same task via video running over a fiber-optic "highway." Prisoner
and judge are able to see and hear one another through a high-speed video
hook-up, making special transportation unnecessary.

The state's major universities and colleges plan to use WEST VIRGINIA
2001 for interactive distance learning. A teacher at Marshall University,
for example, can instruct students at multiple locations miles away. The
teacher and students are able to see and hear one another and interact in
real time. Marshall, West Virginia University and West Virginia Northern
Community College currently have WEST VIRGINIA 2001 links.

Growing Competition

Bell Atlantic - West Virginia continued to make progress in 1998 in
opening its local telephone network to competition. Bell Atlantic has
taken the technical and regulatory steps to link its network with
competitors who want to provide local phone service in the state. Since
the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Bell Atlantic has
entered into agreements with more than 39 companies who have filed with
the Public Service Commission to compete for local phone service in West
Virginia.

"Bell Atlantic is working hard to make our local phone facilities available
to all comers in West Virginia," said Bone. "Doing so will allow Bell
Atlantic to offer West Virginians long distance service in competition with
AT&T and MCI WorldCom. That's something West
Virginians will benefit from, and it's something Bell Atlantic very much
wants to do."

WORLD SCHOOL

Bell Atlantic focused much of its attention last year on enhancing
educational opportunities in the state. Through its $10-million WORLD
SCHOOLsm initiative, the company has linked all 700 kindergarten through
12th-grade schools in its West Virginia service area to the Internet at
speeds of at least 56 kilobits per second (kbps).

Bell Atlantic invested nearly a half-million dollars on WORLD SCHOOL
activities in 1998. Of that, $54,000 in grants were awarded to teachers
who are finding creative ways to use the Internet to enhance education.

Cutting Prices

Bell Atlantic reduced certain rates in 1998, continuing a practice that has
resulted from 10 years of progressive regulatory oversight by the PSC.
Business rates declined by $3.5 million, and businesses benefited from the
ability to call a larger area for flat-rate local prices. These latest cuts,
combined with price reductions from past years, currently save Bell
Atlantic's West Virginia customers nearly $70 million a year.

The Year Ahead

Bone said the coming year poses enormous challenges to Bell Atlantic as
it faces increasing competition in virtually every facet of its business. "We
intend to outpace our competitors by providing products that our
customers truly need and want, coupled with the highest quality service
available anywhere," he said

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and
information industry. With more than 42 million telephone access lines
and 8.6 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies
are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market
leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory
information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest
investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations
and investments in 23 countries.