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BELL ATLANTIC, TCI ANNOUNCE BASIC
EDUCATION CONNECTION TO INFORMATION SUPER
HIGHWAY FOR K-12 SCHOOLS
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LOS ANGELES--Bell Atlantic Corporation and Tele-
Communications, Inc. (TCI) jointly announced today the
largest corporate program ever to link classrooms to the
nation's information superhighway now under construction.
Under the plan, known as the Basic Education Connection,
the more than 26,000 elementary and secondary schools in
areas served by the two companies ultimately will connect
to the national information infrastructure. This
represents about 25% of K-12 schools in the nation.
The Basic Education Connection initially will include
free educational cable TV programming, free access to
certain existing data services such as X*PRESS/X*Change,
and free installation and linkages to help the schools
reach Internet, other computer data bases and the
information superhighway.
"The Basic Education Connection will help change the
way teachers teach and students learn," said Raymond
Smith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bell
Atlantic. "This commitment to education means that
students and teachers will have at their fingertips
homework hotlines, parent-teacher discussions, video
materials and a world of electronically stored data."
The Basic Education Connection will be offered to
K-12 schools by both companies as they build their
two-way full service networks. Bell Atlantic, Liberty
Media Corporation and TCI announced on October 13 that
they intend to merge. The companies will spend $15
billion over the next five years to develop networks
capable of delivering two-way, high speed data and video
to customers nationwide.
Bell Atlantic/TCI said they will consult with local
schools,education associations, higher education
authorities, the Congress, government agencies,
regulators and others as the information superhighway
evolves to gauge what additional access and service
features might be added to the Basic Education Connection
in the future.
The companies also announced they will seek advice
from current Internet users on how schools can best be
served by the Basic Education Connection. Internet users
may send their suggestions to Internet address
BA.TCIEDUC@TCINC.COM.
In making today's announcement, Smith said that the
two companies share a common vision of how the
information superhighway should serve the needs of the
country's students and teachers.
"The Administration and Congressional leaders have
established that the construction of a remarkable new
broadband, interactive communications network is a
national priority. The new Bell Atlantic is taking the
lead in putting technology to its best and highest uses,"
Smith said.
"Connecting our nation's classrooms to the power of
information will expand educational opportunities in ways
we cannot even dream of today--making access to knowledge
as universal as the impulse to learn," Smith added.
TCI will continue to provide educational cable
programming and the X*PRESS/X*Change data service to K-12
schools in its service area for free under the TCI
Education Project.
Bell Atlantic announced today it will support that
commitment in its current telephone territory after the
merger with TCI as Bell Atlantic builds full service
networks there. X*PRESS/X*Change or comparable services
also will be offered to Bell Atlantic schools.
John Malone, President and Chief Executive Officer
of TCI, said, "All the billions we will invest to create
a national telecommunications infrastructure will yield
the best return only if we have a broad range of
Americans who recognize its incredible capabilities and
have the skills to use it. We will help tackle those
problems where they can be dealt with most
effectively--in our nation's elementary, middle and high
schools."
"We will work with educators and regulators to flesh
out our ultimate plan. We want to be clear that our
companies will not create an information superhighway
that is traveled by only an elite few."
Long distance carriers and other companies also
provide parts of the path necessary to connect to the
Internet and other national networks. Bell Atlantic and
TCI called upon those companies to provide their services
at no charge to K-12 schools, as well.
The companies also explained that, although the
Basic Education Connection is free, many service
providers who offer educational products over the
information superhighway are likely to charge for those
products.
Bell Atlantic and TCI plan a series of further
announcements and initiatives for education over the next
few months.
Bell Atlantic is traded in the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol of BEL.
Tele-Communications, Inc. is traded in the NASDAQ
market with Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock
trading separately under the symbols of TCOMA and TCOMB,
respectively.
Contact: Eric Rabe/Bell Atlantic (703) 974-1720
<rabe@ba.com>
Lela Cocoros/TCI (303) 267-5273
-- -Brian Smithson brian@eit.com Enterprise Integration Technologies +1 415 617 8009 459 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301 USA FAX +1 415 617 8019