LD filing with the FCC

Bellsouth Corp
20 December 2001

            BELLSOUTH TO FILE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WITH THE FCC



          Filing Will Further Support Request to Offer Long Distance

                           in Georgia and Louisiana



WASHINGTON -- BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) announced today that it has notified the
Federal Communications Commission that it is withdrawing its current
application to provide long distance service to customers in Georgia and
Louisiana. The company indicated that it intends to ask the Commission to
commence a new review process promptly.

'When we asked the FCC in October for permission to sell long distance
services in Georgia and Louisiana, we were armed with the unqualified
endorsements of the Georgia and Louisiana public service commissions. We
believed that we had built a very solid case that presented compelling
evidence of BellSouth's compliance with the Telecommunications Act of 1996,'
said Margaret Greene, President  - Regulatory & External Affairs for
BellSouth. 'We still believe this is true; however, we will comply with the
FCC's request for additional information to supplement the record and believe
that this will result in a timely and decisive approval.'

Specifically, BellSouth's new filing will provide additional information on
pre-ordering and order process integration, service order and data accuracy,
the order due date calculation process and the collaborative process for
implementing software changes to the support systems used by CLECs.

Restarting the period for FCC review of long distance applications is not
uncommon and most recently occurred in the review of Verizon's application to
provide long distance in Massachusetts and SBC's application for Missouri.



About BellSouth

BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) is a Fortune 100 communications services
company headquartered in Atlanta, serving nearly 46 million customers in the
United States and 15 other countries.



Consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, BellSouth provides a full
array of broadband data and e-commerce solutions to business customers,
including Web hosting and other Internet services.  In the residential market,
BellSouth offers DSL high-speed Internet access, advanced voice features and
other services.  BellSouth also provides online and directory advertising
services, including BellSouth(R) Real PagesSM.com.



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



For information:

Bill McCloskey (Washington) -            202/463-4129

Joe Chandler (Atlanta) -                 770/391-2484

Karen Beck (New Orleans) -               504/528-2208