Bell Atlantic reports a lot of expansion

Bell Atlantic-West Virginia is reporting explosive growth in itsWest Virginia network and unprecedented demand for high-capacitylines.

"In only a decade, our network here has expanded by nearly 25percent, and most of that growth has occurred in the past twoyears,"said Dennis Bone, president and chief executive officer of BellAtlantic-West Virginia.

While some of the growth reflects slight population increases anda healthier economic climate, Bone said much of it can be tied tothegaining popularity of the Internet and other emerging technologies.Company spokesman Paul Miller said, "There was a time only thetelephone company had high-capacity lines. Now a number ofbusinesses are requiring it. This is fueled by the explosion in datatransmission. We've never seen demand like this."At the end of 1998, Bell Atlantic-West Virginia had nearly 826,000telephone access lines in service representing a net increase ofabout 22,500 over the previous year."More and more families need and want additional telephone linesin the home," Bone said. "They may want a separate line for thecomputer, another for the fax machine and yet another just for thechildren."Bell Atlantic said the demand for new lines has prompted it toinvest at a record pace in its infrastructure. The West Virginiaconstruction budget last year was $130 million.