Formed after the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) was forced to break up its regional companies, Bellsouth is based in Atlanta. Strangely enough, it is also the only one of those companies left that uses an actual bell symbol in its company logo. Bellsouth is a combination of Southern Bell and South Central Bell and provides services to 9 southern states in the eastern United States
In the 1990s, when mergers were the name of the game, this company took a pass. Still serving the same states they did when they were first peeled out from under the AT& T umbrella, they have gone from the largest of the bells to one of the smallest. In 2004, in fact, their revenue was only about $28 billion.
In order to provide many of the services this company does to its customers, they operate a number of other smaller companies. For instance Bellsouth Telecommunications provides local phone, while Bellsouth is a provider of internet service. Long distance comes to the region via Bellsouth Long Distance and Bellsouth international provides international operations. Cell phone services are provided by Cingular Wireless, which also provides other wireless...