BellSouth Ranks Highest Among Large Regional Phone Companies in 2002 J.D. Power and Associates Customer Satisfaction Study.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 1, 2002

BellSouth Scores Significantly Above Average in Every

Attribute of Customer Service

BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) today announced that it received top honors in customer satisfaction among large phone companies in the 2002 J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction study of local telephone providers.

The national study identified BellSouth as the only provider to score significantly above average in each attribute of customer service among all local service providers.(1)

According to the customer survey results released today by J.D. Power and Associates, BellSouth outranked other providers in several areas of customer service, including timeliness in making changes to service requests, concerns for specific problems and thoroughness of information provided in response to questions. In addition, the study revealed that BellSouth service representatives ranked highest on their ability to provide courteous customer service.

"Quality customer care is a critical imperative to our business operations, especially now that we've entered the competitive marketplace for long distance," said Ike Harris, president of BellSouth Consumer Services. "We are pleased that our customers continue to rank us high in customer satisfaction because we believe our service record will ultimately set us apart from the rest of the field."

BellSouth recently launched several enhancements to its customer service initiatives as a way to strengthen its commitment to improving the service experience of its customers. These include:

    --  The Customer Rules!(SM) - an enhancement to customer care,
        this initiative sets in place five guiding principles for
        meeting customer expectations for timely and responsive
        service: 1) Take Ownership and Show We Care; 2) Be Responsive
        and Deliver; 3) Do It Right; 4) Make It Seamless; and 5) Meet
        Our Commitments. This set of guidelines ensures that every
        customer interaction is handled with consistent quality care
        and establishes a seamless interface between BellSouth and its
        customers.

    --  Representatives Owning Customers (ROC) is an initiative for
        phone service representatives. It empowers the representative
        to make a decision that will bring about customer satisfaction
        resulting in one phone call for the customer.

    --  E-commerce - Customers are able to more conveniently do
        business with BellSouth, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through
        the Internet. The primary focus is to create initiatives that
        will effectively utilize the Internet as a predominant sales
        and customer service channel across consumer markets. The
        continued expansion of the functionality and capabilities of
        BellSouth.com help to support that goal.

In addition, the 2002 J.D. Power study showed that there continues to be a strong interest among consumers for the bundling of services, with over one quarter of households now bundling their local and long distance service, a doubling since 2000. The main reason households give for being likely to bundle all of their services continues to be convenience. However, there is an increase in those who would bundle because of receiving a singe bill and competitive/discounted pricing.

As a long-time provider of multiple services to consumers on one bill, BellSouth this week launched BellSouth(R) Answers, a new multi-product offer strategy that combines on one bill the popular BellSouth(R) Complete Choice local calling plan with BellSouth(R) Long Distance, data and wireless services.(2) The new packages offer consumers combined savings of up to 10 percent or more, depending on services selected, such as Internet, wireless - and now long distance in Georgia and Louisiana - when purchased with BellSouth's Complete Choice plan.

The companies receiving top overall rankings in the J.D. Power and Associates study were Cincinnati Bell and AT&T. Collectively, these companies service about 2 million residential customers compared to BellSouth's 13.8 million customers.

As a leader in telecommunications, BellSouth is known for having a solid track record in setting industry standards for the highest level of customer satisfaction. The company has been recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as #1 in Local Residential Telephone Customer Satisfaction each year from 1996-1999, and received top honors in the 2001 Yankee Group's Technologically Advance Family (TAF) survey on customer service. The company also recently received the number one ranking in the 2002 American Customer Satisfaction Index Survey for the ninth consecutive year in a row. In addition, J.D. Power and Associates ranked BellSouth "Highest Customer Satisfaction with Small Business Local Telephone Service Providers."(3) This was the first-ever survey of small businesses' opinions of their telephone service providers by J.D. Power and Associates.

About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, GA, serving nearly 45 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 offers long distance service for both business and consumer customers in Georgia and Louisiana.

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.

Source:

(1) Customer service was one of six factors used in the J.D. Power and Associates study to measure overall customer satisfaction.

(2) Long distance service is provided by BellSouth Long Distance, Inc., and is available in Georgia and Louisiana only. Cellular services provided by Cingular(R) Wireless LLC.

(3) J.D. Power and Associates 2001 Small Business Telecommunications Study(SM). Study conducted among 2,511 business users with 2-99 employees. www.jdpower.com.