RNS Number:0556E
Bell Atlantic Corp
19 January 2000

                                      Contacts:
                                      John Killian
                                      212-395-1152

                                      Dominic DiBucci
                                      212-395-1924

                  Bell Atlantic, Competitors Propose Settlement 
                    To Pennsylvania PUC Global Telecom Order

Bell Atlantic, a diverse group of telecommunications companies and other
interested parties filed a compromise proposal late yesterday with the
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) designed to accelerate competition
and avoid lengthy litigation.

The proposal is in response to a November 1999 PUC invitation to the parties to
negotiate a settlement in lieu of pending court appeals by Bell Atlantic over
recent PUC telecommunications decisions. Bell Atlantic filed appeals in state
and federal courts after the PUC issued a global telecommunications order Sept.
30 that, among other things, wrongly requires Bell Atlantic to split its
Pennsylvania operations into two separate companies.

"This proposed settlement represents a true compromise by all facets of the
telecommunications industry - major incumbent and new local phone companies,
long-distance providers, and parties representing key consumer interests," said
Daniel J. Whelan, president and CEO of Bell Atlantic - Pennsylvania. "The
settlement was achieved through intense negotiations over the past month and a
half".

"This proposal will bring additional benefits to Pennsylvania consumers and
businesses by further reducing prices for our competitors, and it removes the
illegal, discriminatory requirement to split Bell Atlantic's Pennsylvania
operations into two separate companies," said Whelan. "It also will provide us
with a clear path to obtaining Commission support for Bell Atlantic to offer
long-distance service in Pennsylvania.

"In short, this proposal will bring certainty and stability to Pennsylvania's
telecommunications marketplace, and it will speed full competition in
Pennsylvania. We urge the Commission to approve it as quickly as possible."


Following are highlights of the proposal:

*  Bell Atlantic will be able to give the PUC 100-day notice that it intends to 
  file with the Federal Communications Commission to offer long-distance        
 service in Pennsylvania any time after KPMG files its draft final report on    
testing of Bell Atlantic's computer systems. The KPMG report must show that    
no more than eight percent of the test items are unsatisfactory, and that      
none of the items can have a material adverse effect on competition.

*  Bell Atlantic will form a separate affiliate that will offer high-speed,
   "packet-switched" services such as DSL (digital subscriber line) and frame 
   relay to customers. Bell Atlantic has agreed to form a similar affiliate to 
   offer such services in New York. This affiliate will use Bell Atlantic's 
   computer systems for ordering and providing service in the same way Bell 
   Atlantic's competitors do today.

*  Bell Atlantic will further decrease the prices competing companies pay to 
   lease portions of its network in rural areas by an additional four percent, 
   or 75 cents, per month for two years after PUC approval of the settlement.

*  The "Rural/Residential Resale Promotion" - which offers competitors a deeper 
   discount to resell Bell Atlantic's lines to rural and residential 
   customers - will be available for two years instead of one.

*  Bell Atlantic will decrease access charges another 17 percent, to .75 cents 
   a minute. This is in addition to the five-year, $300 million decrease in 
   access fees required in the PUC's September 1999 global telecommunications   
  order. All access charge reductions will be funded on a revenue-neutral
   basis.
   
*  Bell Atlantic and other local telephone companies will expand a "Lifeline" 
   service offer to customers within 150 percent of the poverty level. Bell 
   Atlantic also will contribute $500,000 over two years to help fund 
   development of an automatic enrollment program for eligible customers. 
   Lifeline discounts also will be funded on a revenue-neutral basis.

Timely PUC approval of the proposal will enable Pennsylvania to remain among the
first tier of states to gain full telecommunications competition. "We only have
to look at New York to see the benefits of full competition. Bell Atlantic today
is offering New York consumers some much-needed choice for their long-distance
business, and the long-distance companies are competing vigorously
for New Yorkers' local phone service," said Whelan.

"Bell Atlantic has consistently gone the extra mile to reach reasonable
compromises in the PUC's global telecommunications process," he added. "Our
overriding goal has been to hasten full telecommunications competition in
Pennsylvania just as Bell Atlantic has done in New York."

END

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