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Bell Atlantic 1Q profit up
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April 22, 1999: 12:52 p.m. ET
Phone giant cites surging demand for its fifth consecutive quarterly profit
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NEW YORK, (CNNfn) - Surging demand for high-speed telephone lines, enhanced voice mail and other services helped telephone giant Bell Atlantic Corp. (BEL) post a first-quarter profit of 73 cents a share, matching Wall Street consensus estimates.
Net income in the first three months of the year jumped 10.5 percent to $1.15 billion from $1.04 billion in the first quarter of 1998. The Northeastern "Baby Bell" posted a per share profit of 66 cents in the year-ago period, a gain of 10.6 percent. Sales during the period rose 4.1 percent to $8 billion from $7.7 billion.
"Robust" demand for basic telephone services and stronger demand for value-added services such as enhanced voice mail, caller ID, director assistance and other services drove earnings higher for the fifth consecutive quarter, said Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg. What's more, "we'll look for the marketing momentum we built in this quarter to carry over and strengthen top-line domestic telecom growth throughout 1999," he said.
That kind of momentum should place Bell Atlantic in an even stronger position for its expected merger with GTE Corp (GTE) . The two companies last July unveiled what was then a $53 billion merger of Northeast power Bell Atlantic with Irving, Texas-based GTE, which has local access lines scattered throughout the country. Bell Atlantic is currently barred by regulators from offering long-distance services to its customers.
Bell Atlantic believes it has a good chance to prove its turf, the Northeast, is competitive. The company is close to filing a request with New York state to ask for the right to offer long-distance there. A ruling from New York officials is expected sometime next month.
Shares of Bell Atlantic fell 1-1/2 to 57 in late morning New York trading. GTE were down 1-7/16 to 65 7/16. 
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Bell Atlantic
GTE Corp.
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