- BellSouth
Infobox Company
company_name = BellSouth Corporation
company_
type = Private (subsidiary of AT&T Inc.) [cite web |url = http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/gen/company.html?gcode=E662008E6B2142CD87DFC278AAD82BA5 |title = BellSouth Corporation Company Profile - Company Information |accessdate = 2008-09-08] [cite web |url=http://www.smartbrief.com/news/USTELECOM/companyData.jsp?companyId=101&lmcid=1906249& |title=BellSouth Corporation Profile |accessdate=2008-09-08]
foundation =1983
location = Atlanta, Georgia,USA
industry =Telecommunications
key_people =F. Duane Ackerman , Chairman and CEO
products =Telephone ,Internet ,Television
num_employees = 63,000
parent = AT&T Inc. (2006-present)
subsid =BellSouth Corporation is an American
telecommunications holding company based inAtlanta, Georgia . BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S. Department of Justice forced theAmerican Telephone & Telegraph Company to divest itself of its regional telephone companies onJanuary 1 ,1984 .In a merger announced on
March 5 ,2006 and executed onDecember 29 ,2006 ,AT&T Inc. acquired BellSouth for approximately $86 billion (1.325 shares of AT&T for each share of BellSouth) [http://today.reuters.com/news/articlebusiness.aspx?type=ousiv&storyID=2006-12-30T011814Z_01_WBT006361_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESSPRO-BELLSOUTH-FCC-DC.XML&WTmodLoc=Home-C4-Business-ousiv-2&from=business] . The combined company retained the name AT&T. The merger consolidated ownership ofCingular Wireless andYELLOWPAGES.COM , both of which were joint ventures between BellSouth and AT&T.With the merger completed, wireless services previously offered by Cingular Wireless are now offered under the AT&T name. In addition, BellSouth has formally become AT&T South, its
Bell Operating Company doing business as AT&T Southeast, and ceased doing business under the BellSouth name on June 30, 2007.BellSouth was the last of the Regional Bell Operating Companies to keep its original corporate name after the
1984 AT&T breakup, as well as the last one to retain the Bell logo.Cincinnati Bell , an independentBell System franchise not part of the AT&T breakup, continues to actively use the "Bell" name, but dropped the Bell logo from advertising in mid-2006. Verizon still uses the Bell logo on payphones and on the back ofVerizon trucks, but not as a main logo.Malheur Bell , a wholly-owned, but separately-operated subsidiary ofQwest Corporation , continues to use the logo, and is now the last former-AT&T entity to continue to use the Bell logo.BellSouth also operated in the Australian and New Zealand market. BellSouth operated in
New Zealand under the name of BellSouth New Zealand Limited from 1993 until 1998 when it was purchased byVodafone . It competed againstTelecom New Zealand . Its operations inAustralia were under the name of BellSouth Australia Pty Limited.Organization and services
The telephone operating companies
Southern Bell based in Atlanta andSouth Central Bell based inBirmingham, Alabama combined in 1992 to operate under the nameBellSouth Telecommunications . A shared services company known as BellSouth Services was created to provide centralized functions such asengineering andinformation technology to Southern Bell and South Central Bell. Services provided in the BellSouth operating area include telephone andDSL /Dial-UpInternet services in the States ofAlabama ,Florida , Georgia,Kentucky ,Louisiana ,Mississippi ,North Carolina ,South Carolina andTennessee .Satellite television service was provided as a partnership withDirecTV .Cable television was provided in limited markets as BellSouth Entertainment Americast.The company maintained its largest operation centers in Atlanta and Birmingham. Region-wide headquarters operations were also primarily in Atlanta and Birmingham. State-wide operations centers were located in Birmingham, Miami, Atlanta, Louisville, New Orleans, Jackson, Charlotte, Columbia, and Nashville.
Toward its end, BellSouth realigned itself in two important areas,
wireless andbroadband . A 40% joint venture with now-parentAT&T (formerly SBC) in U.S. wireless telephone service providerCingular Wireless provided a large percentage of BellSouth's revenue. Continued increase ofbroadband penetration and applications in the consumer market was a key strategy to the company. These activities were being funded in part by the sale ofLatin America operations.BellSouth became the first "Baby Bell" that did not operate pay telephones. By
2003 , BellSouth's payphone operation was discontinued because it had become too unprofitable, most likely due to the increased availability of cell phones.Cincinnati Bell has taken BellSouth's place for payphones in northern BellSouth territory; independents have set in further south.BellSouth's main operating units at its end were the Communications Group, Domestic Wireless, and Advertising and Publishing. The communications group operated two wholly owned subsidiaries, BellSouth Telecommunications Inc. (BST) and BellSouth Long Distance, Inc. (BSLD). The main marketing groups for the communications group were consumer, small business, large business, and interconnection (wholesale services). The communications group provided wireline communications services, including local exchange, network access, intraLATA long distance services, and Internet services, as well as long distance services.
The domestic wireless group provided wireless services through its 40% ownership of
Cingular Wireless (formerly BellSouth Mobility, jointly owned with SBC/AT&T).The advertising and publishing group was responsible for printing and distributing telephone books, selling advertising, and operating online electronic directories.
The BellSouth - SBC/AT&T relationship went further than just Cingular Wireless. BellSouth & SBC/AT&T also co-owned [http://yellowpages.com yellowpages.com] (formerly RealPages.com and SmartPages.com).
BellSouth licensed its trademark to
US Electronics , which produced telephones under the BellSouth brand.BellSouth stops displaying caller ID from Sprint customers
As of
January 1 2006 , BellSouth customers no longer receive caller ID information from Sprint PCS customers. Any incoming call originating from a Sprint PCS cell phone will usually display the City, State format on the caller ID display instead of the name or business name associated with that number. Based on a 1996 agreement between Sprint and BellSouth, it is likely that this is a result of a 10 year contract. In 2003, Sprint sued BellSouth for $20 million as a result of Sprint claiming Bellsouth violated a 1996 contract by not providing Sprint caller-identification information to BellSouth customers [http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2003/12/15/daily29.html] .Similar caller ID "deals" have been left to the consumer to fight either with their own carrier or through government regulatory commissions for what they should have displayed on their
caller ID device. In 2002, Sprint andSBC Communications could not come to an agreement on fees charged to carriers to lookup the caller name information. [http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2002/10/28/story3.html] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/20/AR2006052000132.html]Alleged NSA cooperation
In
2006 , "USA Today " published an article which claimed that three of the largestUnited States carriers, including BellSouth, had been supplying calling records to theNational Security Agency for all international and domestic calls. This data, the article claimed, is being used to create, "the largest database ever assembled." [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm]On
May 16 ,2006 , BellSouth released a statement claiming that no contract with the NSA existed and that they had never provided information such as calling records to the NSA. [http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/15/bellsouth.nsa/index.html]"
USA Today " printed a retraction onJuly 1 ,2006 stating that "BellSouth did not participate in an NSA surveillance program." [http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/0701bizbellsouth.html]ee also
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BellSouth Telecommunications
*Cingular Wireless References
External links
* [http://bellsouth.mediaroom.com/ BellSouth Corporation (Corporate Website)]
* [http://www.bellsouth.com/ BellSouth Corporation (Consumers Website)]* [http://www.southernlitigation.com/ Legal Battle with BellSouth over Domain Names]
*he_icon [http://www.cellcom.co.il Cellcom]
*da_icon [http://www.sonofon.dk/ Sonofon Denmark]
*es_icon [http://www.telcel.com/ Telcel]
*Third party links
** [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/10/10200.html Yahoo! - BellSouth Corporation Company Profile]
** [http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060305/at_t_bellsouth.html?.v=12 AT&T bids $67 Billion for BellSouth] , "Yahoo! Finance", March 5, 2006, Harry Weber
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