January 30, 1996

NYNEX CONTACT: Media Relations, (212) 395-0500

Bell Atlantic Nynex Mobile Talkalong(SM) Service Now Available At Blockbuster Video Stores

PITTSBURGH, PA -- Getting a cellular phone is now as easy as renting your favorite video. At 16 local Blockbuster Video locations, customers are able to sign up for Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile's TalkAlong(SM) Service and take home a cellular phone and activation kit.

"This is the first time we've carried a retail product like this," said Paul Soscia, executive vice president of Video Rental of PA, Inc., a franchisee of Blockbuster Video. "We're very excited about the program and are anticipating tremendous sales."

Jerry Fountain, regional vice president of Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile in Pittsburgh, said adding Blockbuster Video stores as an outlet for the company's TalkAlong service further demonstrates how consumer-oriented this product is.

"TalkAlong was designed for the consumer who wants cellular service for daily tasks in and around his or her own neighborhood," Fountain explained.

"Ease of use and convenience are two key features customers tell us they want," Fountain said. "Our new arrangement with Blockbuster Video gives the cellular user both.

"We've simplified the process of signing up for cellular with a take-home activation kit, and with the convenience of the many Blockbuster Video locations, we've made the product easily available to the consumer."

TalkAlong allows a customer to select a "local zone" for the basic monthly access fee of $14.99 and an in-zone local airtime minute rate of just $0.35, which is 25 to 30 percent lower than traditional cellular offerings. Outside their local zone, customers will be able to make and receive calls for $0.99 per airtime minute.

Customers can purchase their TalkAlong cellular phone at a Blockbuster Video store for $39.99. Once at home, they merely call the 800 phone number provided with the kit to activate the phone themselves.

Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile is the largest wireless service provider on the East Coast, offering a full range of wireless voice, data and paging communications solutions to its three million customers in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and through a separate subsidiary, in the Southwest.

NYNEX is a global communications and media company that provides a full range of services in the northeastern United States and high-growth markets around the world, including the United Kingdom, Thailand, Gibraltar, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The Corporation is a leader in the telecommunications, wireless communications, cable television, directory publishing and entertainment and information services.

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