for: BellSouth Telecommunications

BellSouth Corporation is an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S. Department of Justice forced the American Telephone & Telegraph Company to divest itself of its regional telephone companies on January 1, 1984.

In a merger announced on March 5, 2006 and executed on December 29, 2006, AT&T Inc. acquired BellSouth for approximately $86 billion (1.325 shares of AT&T for each share of BellSouth) 1. The combined company retained the name AT&T. The merger consolidated ownership of Cingular Wireless and YELLOWPAGES.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 independent Bell 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 of Verizon trucks, but not as a main logo. Malheur Bell, a wholly-owned, but separately-operated subsidiary of Qwest 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 by Vodafone. It competed against Telecom New Zealand. Its operations in Australia were under the name of BellSouth Australia Pty Limited.

Organization and services

The telephone operating companies Southern Bell based in Atlanta and South Central Bell based in Birmingham, Alabama combined in 1992 to operate under the name BellSouth Telecommunications. A shared services company known as BellSouth Services was created to provide centralized functions such as engineering and information technology to Southern Bell and South Central Bell. Services provided in the BellSouth operating area include telephone and DSL/Dial-Up Internet services in the States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Satellite television service was provided as a partnership with DirecTV. Cable television was provided in limited markets as BellSouth Entertainment Americast.