Dividend Declaration

Bellsouth Corp
22 September 2003

Media Contacts

LeAnn Hansen

BellSouth

404-249-2839

                     BellSouth Board of Directors declares

                            79th quarterly dividend

For immediate release:

September 22, 2003

Atlanta, GA - The board of directors of BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) today
declared a regular quarterly dividend of 23 cents per common share. The
third-quarter dividend is payable Nov. 3, 2003 to shareholders of record as of
the close of business on Oct. 9, 2003. Over the last six quarters, BellSouth has
increased its quarterly dividend 21 percent from 19 cents per common share to 23
cents per common share.

BellSouth has nearly 1.9 billion shares outstanding in approximately 800,000
registered shareholder accounts. This is the 79th consecutive quarterly dividend
declared by BellSouth.


About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company
headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth serves more than 45 million local,
long distance, Internet and wireless 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 also offers long distance service
throughout its markets, serving both business and residential customers. 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) RealPages.comSM 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.


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