GTE to acquire BBN

Tue May 6 12:45:07 UTC 1997

FYI,
/John

===
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For Information Contact:

Peter W. Thonis
BBN Corporation
(617) 873-3512
pthonis at bbn.com

GTE TO ACQUIRE BBN; BBN ANNOUNCES 
THIRD QUARTER FISCAL YEAR 1997 RESULTS

Cambridge, Mass., May 6, 1997 --- BBN Corporation (NYSE:BBN) today said
that  GTE Corp. (NYSE: GTE) has agreed to acquire BBN in a transaction
valued at  approximately $616 million.  Under the terms of the transaction,
GTE will shortly commence a cash tender offer to acquire all the
outstanding shares of BBN common stock at a price of $29 per share.

BBN also reported third quarter revenue of $95.9 million, a 58 percent
increase from $60.8 million in the third quarter of a year ago.  Revenue
for the nine month period ended March 31, 1997 was $254.1 million, an
increase of 53 percent over $165.6 million for the nine months ended March
31, 1996.

The revenue growth in the third quarter ended March 31, 1997 reflects
continued significant growth in BBN Planet, BBNís Internet services
division.  BBN Planet had third quarter revenue of $48.2 million, a 134
percent increase over revenue of $20.6 million for the comparable quarter
ended March 31, 1996 and a 23 percent sequential increase over $39.2
million in the quarter ended December 31, 1996.  America Online-related
revenue was $23.2 million, representing 48 percent of BBN Planet revenue.
Revenue from BBN Planetís value-added services, which include web hosting,
managed security, consulting and systems integration services, grew by
approximately 18 percent sequentially over the prev