Verizon Trying to Sell GTE Cable Systems

Verizon Communications, the telephone company formed last week when Bell Atlantic Corp. bought GTE Corp., is trying to sell GTE cable systems in California, Hawaii and Florida valued at an estimated $615 million. GTE had recently hired investment bank Goldman, Sachs & Co. to help it sell the systems, which have 123,000 subscribers, said spokeswoman Bobbi Hennessey. Other U.S. cable systems have recently been sold for about $5,000 per subscriber. GTE’s cable systems have about 56,500 customers each in Ventura County and in Pinellas County, Fla. The other 10,000 customers are on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The California franchise competes with Adelphia Communications Corp. and those in Hawaii and Florida compete with Time Warner Inc. Verizon shares rose $4.19 to close at $55 on the New York Stock Exchange.