Regional Bells

Strong consumer demand for communications, both wired and wireless, propelled Bell Atlantic Corp. to an unexpectedly strong 13.5 percent increase in first-quarter earnings, the company reported yesterday.Bell Atlantic's net income for the quarter that ended March 31 jumped to $470.5 million, or $1.07 a share, from $414.5 million, or 95 cents a share, during the first quarter of 1995. The results exceed the Wall Street consensus projection of $1.04.Corporate revenues increased to $1.14 billion from $1.08 billion during the same quarter last year.

Quickly seizing upon the freedoms it won in a new telecommunications law, Bell Atlantic Corp. announced yesterday that it has taken the first formal step toward realizing its long-frustrated ambition of becoming a nationwide long-distance carrier.The Philadelphia-based telecommunications company said it has filed applications to provide long-distance service in five states outside its core region -- North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, South Carolina and Texas. Under the law signed by Congress Feb. 8, those regulatory approvals are likely.

The Communications Workers of America claimed an "absolute victory" yesterday as the union disclosed details of a -- hard-won agreement with Bell Atlantic Corp. on all but local issues.But, although the company apparently backed down on some critical concessions it desperately wanted, it apparently got the one it said it needed most.The tentative agreement on "common issues" came 5 1/2 months after the expiration of a contract covering about 34,400 CWA members in Bell Atlantic's region, including about 8,000 in Maryland.

Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex Corp. remained coy about reports yesterday that they are holding merger talks, but telephone industry analysts said that if a massive federal telecommunications bill becomes law, such a combination is all but inevitable.The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified executives, reported that officials of the two companies were meeting to explore plans for such a merger, including the tricky question of who would run a combined company. The newspaper said no final decision has been made on a merger, and there were no signs that an agreement was imminent.

As Hurricane Felix threatened Bell Atlantic Corp.'s territory with 80-mph winds yesterday, the union that represents the crews that repair damaged telephone lines continued to teeter on the brink of a strike.A spokesman for the Communications Workers of America, which represents 37,000 Bell Atlantic network maintenance workers and other employees from New Jersey to Virginia, said yesterday that the union has rejected the company's latest offer to replace the contract that expired 12 days ago.Doug Thompson, a spokesman for CWA District 2, said the union would not alter its bargaining strategy because of the storm -- either to avoid it or take advantage of it."

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department is close to recommending that a regional Bell telephone company be allowed to enter the long-distance industry for the first time since the government forced the breakup of the Bell System more than a decade ago.People familiar with the proposal, which would require the approval of a federal judge, say it would allow Ameritech Corp. to offer long-distance service to customers in metropolitan Chicago.In return, the company would be required to open its local-telephone business in the area to full competition by other telecommunications companies.

The Axis powers. The Beatles. Burt and Lonnie.Alliances don't always work, often because they're marriages of convenience lacking necessary resources, staying power or compatibility.A year ago, the grand Bell Atlantic/Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) merger was announced -- a deal that would ultimately fall apart in the attempt to meld regional telephone with cable.Since then, industries that ultimately will make up the so-called information superhighway have turned their anxiety into a complex series of corporate combinations and agreements.

What a difference a decade makes.When American Telephone & Telegraph was broken up, each day I'd respond to dozens of shareholders who'd buttonhole me to ask which of the regional Bells to keep and which to sell.I'd point out the individual nature of each of the seven regionals, such as the size of its particular customer base. Then I'd add that a conservative investor would do fine no matter which ones he kept.Fortunately, that's just how it turned out. But while baby Bells were created equal, their individual strategies today are unique.

WASHINGTON -- The two heavyweight contenders in the struggle for control of the nation's information infrastructure slugged it out in front of a House Judiciary subcommittee yesterday, each trying to put its stamp on legislation that would rewrite the nation's basic telecommunications law.After a hearing that one wag compared to a meeting of divorcing spouses over custody of the family dog, it was the Baby Bells who appeared to outpoint the long-distance telephone...

When the Bell telephone monopoly bbroke up 10 years ago this week, Frederick D. D'Alessio thought he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.Had the breakup occurred six months earlier, the mid-level manager with New Jersey Bell would have gone with the parent AT&T in the split. But because he was working in one of Ma Bell's regional affiliates when the music stopped, all he could do was grab a seat at this new regional phone company called Bell Atlantic Corp."There was this view that AT&T was the place to be and that it was going to be the shooting star," Mr. D'Alessio says.