Bell Atlantic and GTE tie the knot

Bell Atlantic and GTE have agreed to merge by means of a stock swap, which values GTE at approximately $53bn.

The corporate marriage - which was leaked to the press over the weekend, around the time AT&T and BT were also tying the knot - will create the second largest carrier in the US after AT&T, assuming the deal is approved by regulators. GTE has a range of local, long distance, Internet and wireless businesses, and its local services clash with those of Bell Atlantic in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Bell Atlantic CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, and his GTE counterpart, Charles Lee, will be co-chief executives of the post-merger company. Seidenberg said the tie-up would mean more competition in the face of other recent mergers. "The combined enterprise will have the financial, operational and technological resources to compete effectively against the strategies of AT&T/TCI, SBC/Ameritech, WorldCom/MCI and others," he said.

The move has been seen by some as a climb-down for GTE, which last year launched its own bid for MCI, and was recently linked with BT - itself spurned by MCI - and other European telcos.

Yesterday, Deutsche Telekom declined to comment on speculation that it could abandon its Global One venture with France Telecom and Sprint, the third-largest long distance carrier in the US, to ally itself with Bell Atlantic and GTE.