BellSouth Launches New Online Capabilities at BellSouth.com, Significantly Enhancing the Sales and Service Experience for Consumers.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2002

Company implements new website functionality and sweepstakes campaign,

to attract more customers to Online Billing Capabilities

BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) today announced the implementation of several new online sales and service features.

The enhancements will provide customers with a more personalized way to access their online account, while significantly improving the online shopping and billing experience for customers.

"BellSouth is always looking for ways to provide better service to our customers, and we believe that making our website billing and ordering more user friendly and secure gives customers additional reasons to do business with us online," said Klaus Werner, General Manager of eCommerce. "The new features will not only improve our customers' ability to make better buying decisions, but they will also allow us to better understand the communications needs of our customers."

As part of the enhancements, BellSouth launched a new Customer Registration capability, which provides customers with the flexibility to establish a personal login name and password to enter secure areas of bellsouth.com. The new feature is a significant improvement over the previous login method that required consumers to remember the Personal Access Code (PAC) on their telephone bill, in order to securely access their account information. Additionally, this new feature allows customers to view multiple accounts using the same login name and password without logging in for each individual account.

BellSouth also introduced a new Integrated Product Catalog enhancing the convenience of finding, reviewing, and ordering products and services online. The new catalog expands the products and services offered to customers at bellsouth.com. Customers are able to review detailed information on products and services, as well as suggestions on how to use the services at home. Now, customers can instantly order services online without the need for a customer service representative.

To create additional awareness and encourage customers to pay their bills electronically, BellSouth launched a region-wide sweepstakes campaign, giving participants a chance to win a variety of home entertainment products, including big screen TVs, DVD players and BellSouth cordless telephones. Customers throughout BellSouth's nine-state service area were contacted by email informing them of the BellSouth Pay & Play Sweepstakes and the benefits of BellSouth's online bill payment services. The email directs customers to a URL at bellsouth.com to register for the sweepstakes running through May 5, 2002.

"Customer response to our online billing initiatives has been overwhelmingly positive, and we will continue to work very hard at encouraging even more customers to enjoy the benefits of managing their bills online," said Werner. "Our sweepstakes campaign will drive awareness and help some of our customers to take the first step toward online billing. Once they are on our site, the new enhancements will help them to realize how truly easy it is to do business with us online."

In response to customer feedback, BellSouth introduced an online Automatic Bill Payment service last year, allowing customers to have their telephone charges deducted automatically from their checking account each month. Customers can sign up for this service at www.bellsouth.com/pay. In addition, in January of 2002, BellSouth launched a new easy-to-read online bill that provides an at-a-glance summary of charges, improved navigation through new graphical icons, links to view bill details and a "current balance" reflecting payments made since the statement date.

Jupiter Communications predicts that 25.8 million households will pay bills online by 2005. Additionally, Jupiter is forecasting that households receiving and paying bills online will rise to 40.2 million during the same time period, making growth in online billing more rapid over the next three years than either online banking or online shopping. (July, 2000 Jupiter Communications report)

BellSouth first introduced its online services to customers in 1997. Since then, the company has been dedicated to enhancing its website by introducing new and expanded capabilities such as online bill payment. BellSouth now has more than 186,000 customers participating in its eBill service, and more than 460,000 customers paying their bills online.

About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, GA, serving more than 46 million customers in the United States and 14 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 directory and online advertising services, including BellSouth(R) Real Pages(SM).com. BellSouth owns 40 percent of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless company, which provides innovative wireless data and voice services.