BellSouth Provides Wireless E-mail Customers With More Flexibility and Enhanced Two-Way Messaging Through New Service Features.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2002

New functionality improves e-mail capabilities on-the-go

BellSouth (NYSE:BLS) today announced that its wireless e-mail customers will have even more options when creating and managing their two-way messages thanks to the addition of several fun new features.

The new enhancements will provide users with increased functionality, delivering capabilities that are typically only found with PC-based e-mail services.

"Customers benefit a great deal from the numerous advantages and options available with BellSouth(R) Wireless E-mail," said Eric Wolbach, Director of Consumer Wireless Services for BellSouth. "The new enhancements give our customers more choice in managing their wireless communications, and allow them to easily connect with co-workers, family members or friends when they want to communicate instantly."

As part of the new enhancements, customers will have greater addressing flexibility, which means they will be able to send messages to multiple addresses without having to recreate the original message for each recipient. Customers will also be able to save multiple addresses to their email device, preventing them from re-keying addresses each time they wish to communicate with other users.

The ability to further personalize messages is another new feature recently introduced. Customers can now add one of 25 emoticons to their outgoing messages, such as a happy face, frown, or flowers, to express how they truly feel as part of the message. This feature is expected to be especially popular with teen users, providing a fun way to signify good news or even a bad mood when talking to friends or when communicating with their parents.

"BellSouth Wireless E-Mail is a simple solution for staying in touch with the important people in your life, and it allows you to express yourself on your own terms," said Wolbach. "Parents of teenagers find the service to be particularly useful for encouraging communication and ensuring peace of mind. And the teens just think it's cool, so they really accept their parents' `checking-in' messages a lot better."

Other enhancements allow customers to increase the font size and to stay organized with a handy folders feature, including an inbox, outbox and a drafts folder - just like the folders on a PC. This new functionality significantly increases a users' ability to keep track of important messages, and provides customers with the option of preparing messages ahead of time and sending messages whenever they choose.

BellSouth introduced its wireless e-mail service to customers last year. The service comes with a two-way paging unit, the Motorola(R) Talkabout(R) T900 2-way, which allows users to communicate with any e-mail capable device, such as a PC, other two-way messaging devices, word pagers, select cell phones, and PDAs. The two-way device also has Info on Demand capabilities, allowing users to pull data such as flight information, stock quotes, weather and horoscopes from the Internet. The Talkabout(R) T900 2-way comes in four fun colors: Black, Aqua Ice, Razberry Ice, or Mystic Blue, and is available in English and Spanish language versions. The service is offered at $21.95 per month for BellSouth(R) Solutions customers, or $24.95 a la carte. The T900 device can be purchased through BellSouth for $49.99 (after a $100 rebate which is redeemable after 6 months of service).

BellSouth is committed to helping its customers lead a more "connected lifestyle" by creating solutions, like wireless email, that allow customers to connect to home, work, family, and the world in an integrated and seamless way. Through a variety of service options, customers are able to perform advanced messaging capabilities, e-business transactions, and wireless functions, giving them more choice and control over how and when they want to communicate.

According to market research firm IDC, users on average sent about 900 million instant messages a day in 2000 and will send about 7 billion a day by 2004. Research from the Gartner Group estimates that 12 billion messages are sent over airwaves each month worldwide using two-way devices like the T900.

To order services, customers can call 1-877-769-0002 or visit the BellSouth website at www.bellsouth.com.

About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, GA, serving more than 45 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 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.