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Bellsouth Corp 29 April 2004 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: Joe Chandler BellSouth 404-829-8700 joe.chandler@bellsouth.com BellSouth Signs Contracts for Long-Term Commercial Agreements With Three Wholesale Carriers -- Company Rejects AT&T Proposal -- ATLANTA - April 29, 2004 - BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) today announced the signing of long-term commercial agreements with three carriers including Dialogica Communications Inc., International Telnet and CI2 for the provisioning of wholesale local phone services throughout the nine-state BellSouth region in the Southeast. "In March, BellSouth offered its wholesale customers an opportunity for a fair, long-term commercial agreement at definitive rates for access to the BellSouth network. BellSouth's offer eliminates continued legal and regulatory uncertainty for our customers. These three agreements, along with our ongoing discussions with other CLECs, will move us forward to a new era in which wholesale local voice services will be provided through commercial agreements," said Keith Cowan, President of BellSouth Interconnection Services. Since the FCC's call for the negotiation of commercial agreements, BellSouth has executed nondisclosure agreements with over 60 telecommunications carriers. These non-disclosure agreements set the framework for ongoing, private negotiations of commercial terms. BellSouth also recently announced a commercial offering for UNE transport transition. Until June 15, 2004, BellSouth is offering a plan to provide an efficient transition from UNE transport and high capacity loops to transport offered via BellSouth's tariffs. The company also commented on AT&T's public proposal to incumbent local exchange carriers in response to the March 10, 2004 call from the FCC Commissioners encouraging commercial negotiations. After six weeks of sitting on the sidelines, AT&T has made a desperate attempt to perpetuate the regulatory scheme that was vacated by the D.C. Circuit Court on March 2, 2004. Once again, AT&T is trying to perpetuate government controls of a marketplace that has become intensively competitive and should be controlled by the consumer. 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 AnswersSM, 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.comsm and The Real Yellow Pages(R). More information about BellSouth can be found at www.bellsouth.com. # # # This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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