New features on www.GTE.com make it the telecommunication industry's first integrated e-commerce web site.

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IRVING, Texas — GTE Corp. (NYSE: GTE) is offering its customers unprecedented one-stop shopping and the ability to manage all aspects of their account, including the convenience of online billing and online help services through http://www.gte.com, the company's redesigned customer Web site.

The new GTE.com is the first telecommunication Web site that transcends the traditional, transaction oriented, e-commerce format to focus on enriching current customer relationships. To accomplish this, all GTE business units are linked to simplify daily customer interactions and increase convenience, flexibility and security. GTE's e-commerce strategy leverages its inherent technical innovation from all business units to improve customer service, reduce costs and improve its supply-chain management processes by linking directly to customers and vendors.

"Our mission is to make GTE the most customer focused telecommunications provider on the Internet," said Kent Foster, president of GTE. "We're serious about creating customer advantages through designing and implementing industry-leading, 21st century strategies that enhance every aspect of GTE's customer relationship."

Highlights of the new GTE.com include:

  • Shopping Cart - allows customers to add local phone services, sign up for GTE long-distance service, choose wireless calling plans, purchase telephones and "packaged bundles", all in one visit to www.gte.com.

  • Interactive Online Billing - enhances the current online billing program to offer customers more ways to manage their long distance, local and wireless services through an interactive bill. Using the bill analysis features, GTE customers can research past statements and analyze bills in detail. For example, customers can sort calls any way they want: by time of day, city called, dollar value or duration. Customers also will be able to identify unfamiliar phone numbers with the reverse number look-up feature. To see calling patterns visually, customers can graph their charges over time, and separate business calls from personal ones.
  • Customer Support - allows customers to make "natural language" searches for information on GTE products and services and email questions to customer service. Customers can also check the status of their service requests for local services.
  • Customer Service Chat - in the coming months, customers will have the option of conducting online chat sessions with customer service representatives to have their questions answered.
  • Privacy Protection - by using GTE secure servers and the secure sockets layer (SSL) security standard used by Internet browsers, consumers can shop and interact with GTE knowing that their personal information is secure.
  • SuperPages - GTE SuperPages® provides customers with an easy way to do business with hundreds of other well-known and trusted online merchants directly from GTE.com.

"Over the next few months, GTE will add more new services and tools to GTE.com in response to changing customer needs and to further demonstrate our e-commerce leadership position in the telecommunications industry," said Wayne A. Irwin, assistant vice president of Web Commerce for GTE. "Our enhanced Web site puts our customers in the drivers seat to interact with us whenever they want to, however they want to and wherever they want to."

GTE Internetworking is hosting the GTE.com site.

With 1998 revenues of more than $25 billion, GTE is a leading telecommunications provider with one of the industry's broadest arrays of products and services. In the United States, GTE provides local service in 28 states and wireless service in 18 states, as well as nationwide long-distance, directory, and internetworking services ranging from dial-up Internet access for residential and small-business consumers to Web-based applications for Fortune 500 companies. Outside the United States, the company serves customers on five continents. Additional information about GTE Corp. can be found on the Internet at http://www.gte.com.

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