BAN Banco Lat.8%Pfd

RNS No 4947k
BELL ATLANTIC CORPORATION
22nd October 1997

                                                  Contact:
                                                  David Frail
                                                  212-395-0500
                                                  david_frail@smtp.nynex.com)

      Bell Atlantic Announces Solid Third Quarter Earnings;
               Adjusted EPS Up 9.6 Percent

    Company Targets Sustained 10 to 12 Percent EPS Growth Through
  2000, Sees Merger Integration Efforts Yielding Additional Savings;
             $1.5 Billion In Charges Taken In Quarter

NEW YORK CITY -- Bell Atlantic Corp. (NYSE: BEL) today announced adjusted third
quarter 1997 earnings per share of $1.25, an increase of 9.6 percent over
adjusted earnings per share of $1.14 in the third quarter of 1996.  Adjusted
third quarter net income increased 9.5 percent to $969.4 million. 

Through the first nine months of 1997, adjusted earnings per share were $3.71,
an increase of 11.7 percent compared to the first nine months of 1996. 

Reported results for the quarter show a net loss of $80.1 million, or $.10 per
share, as a result of charges which, after offsetting gains, totaled
approximately $1.0 billion, or $1.35 per share.

Adjusted revenues increased 2.4 percent over the third quarter of 1996 to $7.5
billion, reflecting the impact of significant rate reductions in the quarter.
Including Bell Atlantic's proportionate share of revenues from unconsolidated
businesses, adjusted revenues rose 5.2 percent. Consolidated revenues for all
periods now include those of Bell Atlantic Mobile, which prior to the merger was
accounted for on an equity basis. Adjusted expenses rose 1.2 percent over the
same period last year. 

"Finally we are able to think and act as one company and focus entirely on
delivering the merger's benefits to customers, shareowners and employees," said
Bell Atlantic Chairman and CEO Raymond W. Smith. 

"Both of our key business segments completed the quarter in line with our
expectations. We maintained our record of solid earnings growth, and remain
confident in our ability to meet our targets for double-digit earnings growth
both this year and in 1998. 

"At the same time, we are moving to seize the region-wide growth opportunities
created by our merger," Smith said. 

                              Synergies 
"Our new scale and scope as a major player in the world's premier communications
marketplace gives us tremendous leverage," said Bell Atlantic Vice Chairman,
President and COO Ivan Seidenberg, "and in the short time since the merger
closed we've come to believe we can go beyond the cost and capital savings we
originally identified.

"Before the merger, we targeted $600 million in annual cost savings and $300
million a year in capital savings by consolidating and integrating networks and
operating systems, eliminating approximately 3,100 management positions,
centralizing procurement, reducing the need for contract services, consolidating
real estate, combining information systems and eliminating duplicative
operations.  But now we are going to target an additional $500 million in annual
cost savings by the year 2000. 

"We also can add $400 million a year in revenues from our current product
portfolio by using our best marketing and advertising practices -- for example,
as we bring penetration levels for vertical services up across our footprint up
to industry-leading levels.

"And of course we will address new markets -- long distance, data, and video --
which hold more than double the revenues of our current markets," Seidenberg
said. "We're committed to building the platforms and marketing capabilities to
address these new opportunities and achieve vertical growth -- increasing our
revenues per household and business account -- which is inherently more
profitable than horizontal growth."

Smith said, "We structured our merger to create shareowner value from the start,
and it is one of the few large mergers to deliver on that promise from day one.
With our commitments to reduce costs and drive growth, I'm confident we can
achieve our 10 to 12 percent earnings growth target. 

"We've done this once already -- at Bell Atlantic Mobile.  Since we combined
cellular properties in 1995, BAM has posted record growth and profitability in
an increasingly competitive marketplace.  Now we intend to repeat that success
across the entire corporation."

                               Charges
Bell Atlantic announced charges in the quarter totaling $1.5 billion before
taxes, and said it expected to take between $400 million and $500 million in
additional merger-related charges over the three years following the merger's
close.  These current and projected merger-related charges are consistent with
previously disclosed estimates. 

Of the $1.5 billion, $443 million were merger-related, consisting of direct
merger-related costs, accruals for employee severance, and transition and
integration costs. 

Additional charges totaling approximately $1.1 billion before taxes were
recorded for items identified in the process of consolidating operations and
combining organizations and for other special items arising in the quarter.
Major items included write-downs of fixed assets and excess real estate
capacity, write-downs of video investments and operations, and reserves for
specific contingencies.

Other items arising in the quarter resulted in a net after-tax charge of 
$4 million.  Charges for an enhanced pension offer, the company's equity share
of charges related to the formation of Cable & Wireless Communications, and
other tax issues were partially offset by a gain on the sale of the company's
interest in SkyNetwork Television Limited of New Zealand and a tax benefit in
New Jersey.

The total after-tax efflect of all charges on earnings was $1.0 billion, or
$1.35 per share.

                 Domestic Telecommunications Highlights
In the third quarter, adjusted revenues from Bell Atlantic's Telecom and Network
groups grew 1.2 percent compared to the third quarter of 1996. Continued healthy
growth in volumes was offset by approximately $200 million in state and Federal
price reductions, which depressed revenues by approximately three percent.  A
change in the timing of the publication of the Queens, N.Y. directory impacted
reported revenue growth by 0.7 percent.  Excluding these effects, domestic
telecommunications revenue growth would have been 4.9 percent.

   * Access lines in service at the end of the quarter totaled approximately
     39.4 million, up 3.7 percent over the last 12 months.  The increase
     includes 11.1 percent year-over-year growth in Centrex business lines.

   * Access minutes of use grew 7.4 percent compared with the third quarter
     of 1996.

   * Bell Atlantic had more than 408,000 ISDN (Integrated Services Digital
     Network) lines in service at the end of the quarter, 37.5 percent above
     the total a year earlier.

In the residential market:

   * The number of secondary residential lines in service rose more than 16
     percent over the third quarter of last year as more households added
     computers, fax machines and extra phones.

   * Third quarter revenues from Home Voice Mail and central-office-based
     services such as Caller ID, Return Call and Call Waiting were up 16.5
     percent compared with the same period in 1996.  Caller ID revenues grew
     nearly 34 percent as subscribers across the region reached 4.8 million, for
     a penetration rate of 19 percent.  Revenues from Return Call rose 24.6
     percent from third-quarter 1996 levels.

In business markets:

   * Revenues from high-speed Fast Packet services nearly doubled over
     third-quarter 1996 levels.

   * Bell Atlantic Network Integration (BANI) is now growing revenues at
     an annual rate of 25 percent, and is on track to reach the $250 million
     mark by the end of the year.

Network operating expenses for the third quarter totaled $5.1 billion, less
than one percent higher than in the 1996 period, and included expenses for
compliance with the Telecommunications Act 'checklist,' which totaled more than
$86 million in the quarter; and systems upgrades, along with additional
employees, to handle greater volumes with higher service quality.

                    Global Wireless Highlights

Bell Atlantic Global Wireless, which covers 173 million proportionate worldwide
POPs (people in markets served), continued to grow rapidly in the face of
increasing competition while maintaining market-leading low cost structures.

In the first nine months of 1997, more than a million proportionate subscribers
have been added to the Global Wireless portfolio. The Portfolio now has more
than 5.8 million proportionate customers. Third quarter net customer additions
totaled 363,000.

International ventures contributed 146,000 third quarter additions,
approximately 40 percent of the total. Joint ventuire such as Omnitel and Grupo
Iusacell accelerated their growth rates, and added more than double the number
of new customers compared to the third quarter of 1996. Proportionate
international subscribers totaled 643,000 at the end of the quarter.

For Bell Atlantic Mobile:

*   Operating income increased 37.9 percent over the third quarter of last year,
    producing record operating cash flow margin of nearly 47 percent.

*   The number of BAM subscribers rose to 5.1 million, with 189,000 net
    additions in the quarter for an annual growth rate of 25 percent.

*   Despite increasing competitive pressure in its markts, BAM cash expense per
    subscriber decline 19 percent over the same period last year, from $31 to
    $25 per customer, and total cash expenses increased by only 1 percent.

*   Penetration at BAM was 8.9 percent, up from 7.2 percent a year ago, and
    churn decreased again, to 1.66 percent.

*   More than 70 percent of BAM POPs are now covered with CDMA digital service.

     In International operations:

*   Proportionate international operating revenues increased 79.4 percent over
    third quarter 1996 levels, with operating cash flow increasing more than 600
    percent. Proportionate operating income more than doubled.

*   Omnitel Pronto Italia, Bell Atlantic's consortium operating Italy's second
    wireless license, exceeded the record growth rates of the past 10 months,
    adding more than 475,000 net new customers -- an annualized growth rate of
    more than 150 percent.

END

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