Bell Atlantic, GTE Offer Concessions to Merger Critics

Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp. offered new commitments to win U.S. approval of their combination, agreeing to drop minimum fees on some phone services and accepting more than $1 billion in fines tied to performance. In a filing at the Federal Communications Commission, the companies also agreed to improve systems used by local rivals such as AT&T; Corp., while cutting prices competitors pay for access to pieces of phone networks or to resell service. The new conditions were offered in response to criticism from rivals and FCC staff.