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                                                                   Exhibit 23(b)

                       CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTANTS

We consent to the incorporation by reference in this registration statement on
Form S-4 of our reports dated February 5, 1996, which include an explanatory
paragraph stating that in the second quarter of 1995, NYNEX Corporation
discontinued accounting for the operations of its telephone subsidiaries in
accordance with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 71, Accounting
for the Effects of Certain Types of Regulation, and in the fourth quarter of
1993, adopted Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 112, Employers'
Accounting for Postemployment Benefits, retroactive to January 1, 1993, on our
audits of the consolidated financial statements and financial statement schedule
of NYNEX Corporation and its subsidiaries as of December 31, 1995 and December
31, 1994, and for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 1995,
which reports are incorporated by reference or included in the Company's Annual
Report on Form 10-K.

We also consent to the reference to our firm under the caption "Experts."

/s/Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P.

New York, New York
September 6, 1996
