Verizon Wholesale Markets Wins Empire State Gold Award for Leadership and Management Excellence

NEW YORK - The Empire State Advantage Inc. (ESA): Excellence at Work Program today announced that a Verizon Communications Wholesale Markets Group team has won ESA's prestigious Gold Award for providing excellent service to Verizon's wholesale customers in New York.

The award recognizes superior service provided by Verizon's UNE/Resale Services (URS) team to competing telephone companies that purchase unbundled network elements (UNEs) from Verizon. The Empire State Gold certification is awarded to organizations that use highly effective management systems and work processes throughout their organizations and have significantly improved these over time.

Companies can qualify for an ESA Gold certificate only after a rigorous examination of a company's processes, operating systems and performance results in such critical areas as customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

"Our review team was very impressed by all aspects of Verizon's URS operations," said George Hansen, executive director of Empire State Advantage. "Verizon's leadership has established an empowering environment of clear values and high expectations, and they have focused employees at all levels on a common set of objectives.

"The goal of Empire State Advantage is to help New York state-based organizations to achieve excellence so they can increase their contributions to the quality of life and the business competitiveness in the communities. We are happy to see that Verizon's UNE/Resale Services team is making a significant contribution toward reaching this goal," Hansen said.

Tom Maguire, senior vice president for Verizon's UNE/Resale Services organization, said the company's continued commitment to service excellence is reflected in the ESA review that led to Verizon winning the Gold Award.

"We know that our wholesale customers want top quality service that responds to their requirements," Maguire said. "To make this happen, Verizon employees must work as a team - and focus on results, our customers and process improvements.

"The ESA Gold Award affirms Verizon's commitment to deliver consistent, best-in-class service. We will continue working hard to improve the way we do things and the way we work together. And at Verizon, we're confident that providing excellent service will help us meet the competitive challenges of the future," Maguire said.

The Empire State Advantage: Excellence at Work Program uses criteria similar to those of the national Baldridge Awards to measure a company's quality of service and management systems. While most applicants require multiple audits and several years of improvement to achieve the ESA's Gold certification, Verizon's New York UNE/Resale team earned the award the first time it submitted an application.

Verizon Communications Inc.

With more than $71 billion in annual revenues, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon has a diverse work force of more than 210,000 in four business units: Domestic Telecom serves customers based in 29 states with wireline telecommunications services, including broadband and other services. Verizon Wireless owns and operates the nation's most reliable wireless network, serving 43.8 million voice and data customers across the United States. Information Services operates directory publishing businesses and provides electronic commerce services. International includes wireline and wireless operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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