Bell Atlantic and GTE have filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) a proposal to meet the public interest test and complete the companies’ merger. In the filing, the companies outlined how they will restructure the GTE Internetworking business and proposed a set of comprehensive commitments to facilitate prompt approval of their merger. “The merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE is vastly different from other recent mergers,” says William P. Blair, executive vice president and general counsel of GTE. “It is a unique combination of complementary assets that will generate enormous public interest benefits. The combined company’s long-distance, wireless and data capabilities across Bell Atlantic’s territories and GTE’s national footprint promise a strong competitor that will be able to offer innovative service packages to satisfy customer needs.” As part of the merger, the companies have proposed transferring the Internet backbone and related data business of GTE Internetworking to a corporation that is owned and controlled by third-party public shareholders and operated independently of the merged Bell Atlantic-GTE.
