Telecom Swap

Bell Atlantic and merger partner GTE agreed to swap wireless properties in 13 states with rural wireless phone company Alltel. The move would allow Bell Atlantic to proceed with its planned alliance with Britain’s Vodafone AirTouch. As required by federal regulators, the swap eliminates all of the overlapping cellular operations that would be created by the Bell Atlantic-Vodafone alliance. As part of the pact, Alltel also will pay about $600 million to Bell Atlantic, GTE and Vodafone.