In a series of suits they claim GTE and its executives breached their duties to shareholders by selling the company for too low a price.

It is probably not the only obstacle that GTE and Bell Atlantic will have to overcome in order to seal the deal.

Both firms have overlapping interests and US regulators could intervene if they feel it damages competition.

The $55bn (£33bn) merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE will create a telecommunications company with control over a third of the US local phone market.

GTE has aroused the wrath of its shareholders

Bell Atlantic is the largest of the regional companies separated from AT&T in 1983.

GTE, provides local, long-distance, data and Internet services.

Together, the companies will provide services in 41 American states.

Bell Atlantic itself is the product of a merger between with NYNEX, another 'baby bell' that provided local telephone services for New York and New England.

Mutually beneficial

Business analysts believe an alliance between the two companies would be beneficial for a number of reasons.

Bell Atlantic would have access to some of GTE's long-distance service and would be able to jumpstart its fledgling data and Internet business with GTE's already established network.

For GTE, the deal would provide access to the lucrative East Coast market and a link with Bell Atlantic's global fibre optic network.

Telecommunications revolution

The Bell Atlantic-GTE agreement follows a series of major deals that will transform the way companies market and sell telecommunications services, from local phone services to Internet access.

BT tried to buy telecommunications giant MCI in 1996 but was trumped in the bidding war by WorldCom at the end of last year.

Bell Atlantic and GTE will have to face the scrutiny of regulators

At one time, BT was seen as a potential partner for either Bell Atlantic or GTE.

Instead, BT on Sunday announced an international venture with AT&T.

Last month, AT&T agreed to buy cable giant Tele-Communications, for $48bn, with the intention of using TCI's cable TV lines to provide local phone service to millions of US homes.