Taking Creative License - increasing business for minority suppliers

"Spectra will offer local, personalized service to create new relationships with its customers in Missouri. We are confident our commitment to excellence will enable Spectra to provide the caliber of service to customers in Missouri that they've come to expect from GTE," said Rollins.

"This is a landmark supplier diversity success story that we're very excited about," said Oscar Gomez, GTE vice president of Diversity Marketing and Management. We know that when we diversify our relationships in the marketplace, great things can happen."

Approval of the sale is required by the Missouri Public Service Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the U.S. Department of Justice. The closing of the sale and transfer of GTE operations to Spectra is expected to be complete in 2000.

In addition to its agreement with Spectra, GTE announced plans to sell 61,612 customer access lines to Telephone USA of Wisconsin, L.L.C., an African American-controlled business, and over 500,000 customer access lines to Valor Communications, a Hispanic-controlled business. These sales are also expected to close in 2000.

If you're a supplier interested in doing business with GTE, please call 1-800-347-1508 or visit www.gte.com/supplierguide.> TRICON

Small business remains at the very core of the American economy, providing the entrepreneurial spirit that fuels the free enterprise system. Tricon Global Restaurants Inc., parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, believes that franchise, supplier, and employment diversity is an integral part of its business growth. In 1999, representatives of Tricon, the KFC National Purchasing Cooperative, Inc., and Tricon's KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell franchisees formed the Unified Foodservice Purchasing Co-op (UFPC) for restaurant products and equipment in the United States. The UFPC operates independently and is jointly governed by representatives of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell franchisee groups, along with Tricon.

In an on-going effort to increase its minority and women supplier base, Tricon is a corporate member of several national professional minority and women organizations, including the National Minority Supplier Development Council, The Women's Business Enterprise Council, and the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. These groups, along with regional purchasing councils and minority chambers of commerce, are key resources for identifying minority and women suppliers.

The mission of the Tricon/UFPC Supplier Diversity Program is to develop and facilitate strategic relationships with minority and women-owned business enterprises (M/WBEs) which reflect a commitment to the communities they serve, their customers, and their shareholders. Through these efforts, the program works to advance the economic strength of communities where Tricon does business, while acquiring the high-quality products and services needed to operate the business.

The Tricon/UFPC Supplier Diversity Program is designed to:

* Actively and diligently seek out qualified minority and women vendors for all possible company requirements