BellSouth sale of LA Ops

Bellsouth Corp
28 October 2004




More information

Jeff Battcher
BellSouth Media Relations
404-249-2793





  BellSouth and Telefonica Moviles complete transfer of operations in 5 Latin
                               American countries

                    Brings total operations transferred to 8



For immediate release
October 28, 2004



Atlanta, GA - BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) and Telefonica Moviles S.A.
(NYSE: TEM), the wireless affiliate of Telefonica, S.A. (NYSE: TEF), announced
today that the two companies have completed the transfer of BellSouth's
ownership interest in five wireless operations in Latin America: Colombia,
Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. Telefonica Moviles has taken control of
the operations of these properties, effective immediately.


BellSouth will receive $ 2.3 billion for its equity interest in the five
properties and will recognize a gain of approximately $401 million, or
approximately 22 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2004.


The two companies announced in March 2004 that they had reached a definitive
agreement for BellSouth to sell its interests in 10 Latin American operations to
Telefonica Moviles. The agreement provided a purchase price based on total
enterprise value of $5.85 billion.  The sale of BellSouth's interest in the
operations in Ecuador, Guatemala and Panama closed on October 14, 2004.  The
transfer of BellSouth's interest in the operations in the remaining two Latin
American countries (Argentina and Chile) is subject to obtaining all requisite
governmental approvals. We are working diligently to obtain those approvals, and
we expect to obtain them either in the fourth quarter of 2004 or first quarter
of 2005.





About BellSouth Corporation


BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications company headquartered in
Atlanta, Georgia and a parent company of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second
largest wireless voice and data provider.


Backed by award winning customer service, BellSouth offers the most
comprehensive and innovative package of voice and data services available in the
market. Through BellSouth Answers(R), residential and small business customers
can bundle their local and long distance service with dial up and high speed DSL
Internet access, satellite television and Cingular(R) Wireless service. For
businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local and long distance voice
and data networking solutions. BellSouth also offers online and directory
advertising through BellSouth(R) RealPages.com(R) and The Real Yellow Pages(R).


More information about BellSouth can be found at www.bellsouth.com.


In addition to historical information, this document may contain forward-looking
statements regarding events and financial trends. Factors that could affect
future results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include: (i) a change in
economic conditions in domestic or international markets where we operate or
have material investments which would affect demand for our services; (ii)
currency devaluations and continued economic weakness in certain international
markets in which we operate or have material investments; (iii) the intensity of
competitive activity and its resulting impact on pricing strategies and new
product offerings; (iv) higher than anticipated cash requirements for
investments, new business initiatives and acquisitions; (v) unfavorable
regulatory actions and (vi) those factors contained in the Company's periodic
reports filed with the SEC. The forward-looking information in this document is
given as of this date only, and, BellSouth assumes no duty to update this
information.


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