FCC Approves Bell Atlantic, GTE Merger

Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. won regulatory approval to merge in a $65-billion deal to create Verizon Communications, the nation’s largest local and wireless telephone company. The Federal Communications Commission attached 25 conditions to its approval of the merger between Bell Atlantic, a local telephone company, and GTE, a long-distance, wireless and local carrier. The conditions include a requirement that the new company restrict ownership in GTE’s Internet assets, Genuity Inc., to 9.5%. The conditions are designed to open local markets to competition, foster out-of-region competition and improve residential telephone service. The new local and long-distance company will control about 63 million telephone lines in 31 states and the District of Columbia--about a third of all lines in the United States--and have 25 million wireless customers nationwide. Shares of New York-based Bell Atlantic fell $1.50 to close at $55.06, while shares of Irving, Texas-based GTE shares fell $3.20 to close at $66, both on the New York Stock Exchange.