Bellsouth Corp
19 December 2002

December 19, 2002

BELLSOUTH IS FIRST REGIONAL BELL TO GAIN APPROVAL TO OFFER LONG-DISTANCE IN 100%
                                OF ITS TERRITORY

FCC Approval of Florida & Tennessee Means All Nine BellSouth States Now Approved
                             to Offer Long-Distance

WASHINGTON - As a result of a 4-0 vote today by the Federal Communications
Commission, BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) has become the first regional Bell to have all
of its states approved to offer long-distance services. In an order released
earlier today, the FCC today approved the company's application to offer
long-distance telephone service to its business and residential customers in
Florida and Tennessee.

These two states represent approximately 9.4 million of BellSouth's phone lines,
about 38% of the company's network lines. The FCC granted approval of an
application for Georgia and Louisiana in May of this year, and then approved a
5-state filing covering Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and South
Carolina this past September. This approval closes out BellSouth's application
process with federal regulators now that approval has been granted for all nine
states in BellSouth's serving territory.

"This is a watershed day for BellSouth and our customers as it represents almost
seven years of hard work by our dedicated staff in proving that our markets are
open to competition. We are pleased that the Federal Communications Commission
has again affirmed this," said BellSouth Chairman and CEO Duane Ackerman. "We
will launch our long-distance offerings in Florida and Tennessee on Monday,
December 30 with calling plans and other long-distance services that residence
and business customers in our other states have found to meet their
long-distance calling needs at rates that are competitive with other providers
in the marketplace."

Under provisions of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, BellSouth had to
demonstrate to state and federal regulators that its local telephone market is
open to competitors. State regulators in both states had previously unanimously
endorsed BellSouth's application. In October, the Department of Justice
recommended that the FCC approve BellSouth's application.

As of October 31st, BellSouth served some 659,000 total long-distance customers
in the seven states where it is now approved to offer this service. In Georgia
and Louisiana, the first two states where BellSouth received approval to offer
long-distance earlier this year, BellSouth has already achieved 12% penetration
of its residential long distance customers.


                                   -- MORE --

BELLSOUTH LONG-DISTANCE APPROVAL

PAGE TWO

"With the successful launch of our long-distance services in our other seven
states earlier this year, and with this decision today, our entire customer base
can now choose BellSouth as its long-distance provider," noted Ackerman.
"Customers will be offered a single bill from BellSouth for a wide range of
telecommunications services, one number to call with questions, and simple rate
plans. Additionally, this approval allows us to expand our long-distance
offerings to business customers who have locations across our territory and
outside the region, allowing them now the convenience of consolidating all of
their long-distance business, both voice and data, with one provider -
BellSouth."

"The undeniable fact is that we have met and continue to meet our obligations to
the over 340 local service competitors who currently serve over 4.7 million
customer lines in our region," stated Ackerman. " With today's approval we have
met our plan to obtain long-distance relief in all nine of our states by the end
of 2002. Further, we will continue to work with policy makers and regulators to
move towards a marketplace where customers decide winners and losers - not
regulatory policies."

About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company
headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, serving more than 44 million customers in the
United States and 14 other countries.

Consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, BellSouth provides a full
array of broadband data solutions to large, medium and small businesses. In the
residential market, BellSouth offers DSL high-speed Internet access, advanced
voice features and other services. BellSouth offers long-distance service for
both business and consumer customers in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. The company's BellSouth
AnswersSM package combines local and long-distance service with an array of
calling features; wireless data, voice and e-mail services; and high-speed DSL
or dial-up Internet service. BellSouth also provides online and directory
advertising services through BellSouth(R) Real PagesSM.com and The Real Yellow
Pages(R).

BellSouth owns 40 percent of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest
wireless company, which provides innovative data and voice services.

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For information:

Bill McCloskey (Washington) -     202/463-4129

Joe Chandler (Atlanta)      -     404/249-2041


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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