HIGH-TECH TRAINING TO PREPARE NEW JERSEY STUDENTS FOR JOBS BUILDING THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 1996

HIGH-TECH TRAINING TO PREPARE NEW JERSEY STUDENTS
FOR JOBS BUILDING THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

Bell Atlantic Establishes Technology Education Centers
Across the State

TRENTON -- The "Information Superhighway" is
probably the most storied
thoroughfare since Route 66. Everybody's talking about it, and
everybody wants to ride.

But who's going to build America's high-speed digital communications
routes? And once they're built, who will maintain them?

Bell Atlantic's answer is TEC 2000, a new vocational education program
designed to transform the New Jersey high-school students of today
into the top communications craftspeople of tomorrow.

"The Information Superhighway is the Brooklyn Bridge, Erie Canal and
transcontinental railroad of our generation," said Len J. Lauer,
president and CEO of Bell Atlantic-New Jersey. "But unlike
watershed
projects of the past, which depended on unskilled labor, the
Information Superhighway will be built entirely by highly skilled,
well-paid technicians."

"TEC 2000 will train New Jersey's high-tech workforce of the
future,"
Lauer said.

Under TEC 2000, Bell Atlantic will establish telecommunications
training sites at vocational schools across the state with the
cooperation of the Department of Education, the Department of Labor
and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
Instruction will begin in September, at the start of the 1996 school
year.

TEC 2000 is an outgrowth of Project SMART, a nationally recognized
telecommunications apprentice partnership between Bell Atlantic, the
Ocean County Vocational Technical School and the Toms River School
District.

High school juniors and seniors who participated in Project SMART
studied telecommunications, apprenticed under seasoned
telecommunications workers and took advantage of work-based learning.

Nine of Project SMART's first 12 graduates were hired last year by
Bell Atlantic. This year, 15 juniors and 13 seniors are enrolled in
the program.

Bell Atlantic anticipates that TEC 2000 will prove similarly
successful, but on a grander scale.

In the first phase of TEC 2000, sites will be located at vocational
technical schools in Atlantic, Salem, Essex, Morris, Cape May and
Hudson Counties.

Bell Atlantic-New Jersey and the Bell Atlantic Foundation will provide
an approved telecommunications curriculum, furnish laboratory supplies
and personnel, and establish mentor/apprentice relationships between
students and members of the IBEW who work for Bell Atlantic. The
program's start-up costs are estimated to fall between $1 million and
$1.5 million.

Participating schools will provide administrative support, space and
teaching staff.

Bell Atlantic Corporation (NYSE: BEL) is at the forefront of the new
communications, entertainment and information industry. In the
mid-Atlantic region, the company is the premier provider of local
telecommunications and advanced services. Globally, it is one of the
largest investors in the high-growth wireless communication
marketplace. Bell Atlantic also owns a substantial interest in
Telecom Corporation of New Zealand and is actively developing
high-growth national and international business opportunities in all
phases of the industry.

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Media contact:

Tim Ireland, 201-649-2279
timothy.ireland@bell-atl.com