Verizon Reports Highest Service Quality Results Since Company Was Formed Two Years Ago

NEW YORK --Verizon reported today that nearly 96 percent of consumers who recently ordered a new line or product said they were either satisfied or they rated the service as outstanding or very good -- the highest scores since Verizon was created two years ago.

"Verizon opens for business each day with one objective: we want to delight our customers with reliable services that are fairly priced," said Eileen O'Neill Odum, Verizon president-National Operations. "This was our commitment when Verizon was formed two years ago. It's our promise today, and it will remain our guarantee in the future as we build on the century of tradition created by the companies that joined together to become Verizon."

As part of Verizon's service quality effort, the company contracts with an independent market research company to survey each month some 40,000 Verizon business and residential customers, each of whom has had a recent interaction with Verizon. In the June 2002 survey of Verizon's broadest group of customers -- consumers -- 95.7 percent of those who ordered a new line or product rated the company's service as very good, outstanding or satisfactory. Broken out further, 83.1 percent of those customers gave the company the two highest ratings: very good or outstanding.

"Because we remain focused on service quality and the products customers need, Verizon is one of the most successful companies in this industry," Odum said. "We earn high ratings from our customers and regulators. We are quickly growing new businesses such as long distance and high-speed consumer broadband Internet access. And, Verizon has recently achieved the distinction of being the most recognized brand in the telecommunications industry.

"Direct results like these from our customers, coupled with the fact that we have reduced customer complaints by 41 percent over the past two years, tell us we are successfully meeting our standard of continuous improvement," said Odum. "We have also applied what we learned in core products such as local dial tone to our new businesses, which has helped us grow very quickly."

Recently, Verizon Long Distance placed first in the annual J.D. Power and Associates study of high-volume long-distance consumers.

Odum stressed that Verizon will continue to invest capital in the company's wireline network, as part of an ongoing program to upgrade and expand what is already the most advanced telecommunications network in the nation, featuring some 8.7 million miles of fiber-optic systems.

"At Verizon, we make progress every day by focusing on the basics and delivering great service," Odum said. "We are very proud of the accomplishments we have made over the past two years as we continue to build our reputation for service excellence."

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) 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 133.8 million access line equivalents and approximately 29.6 million wireless customers. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world. With more than $67 billion in annual revenues and nearly 248,000 employees, Verizon's global presence extends to more than 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.

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