BellSouth Corp. (NYSE: BLS) says charges for eliminated positions and weak demand for some of its services contributed to a 67 percent fall in second quarter revenues, down to $293 million compared to $880 million during second quarter 2001.
BellSouth’s Latin American operations saw revenues decrease 20 perecnt to $598 million, and its communications group also experienced a 2.4 perecnt decrease in revenue to $4.67 billion.
The Baby Bell did see growth in wireless revenue, up 6.1 percent to $1.5 billion due to an increasing customer base from Cingular Wireless, of which BellSouth holds a 40 percent stake in the company. BellSouth says it also added 74,000 new DSL customers. And new long-distance services in Georgia and Louisianna have signed up 147,000 customers in a little more than five weeks.
Still, the quick start by its long-distance group couldn’t offset the pressure from existing market conditions, and BellSouth now says it revenue growth will decline two to three percent for the year.
Shares of BLS have ranged in price from $27.50 to $42.95 during the last 52 weeks and recently traded near $23. BellSouth’s market capitalization is $51.8 billion.
BellSouth: www.bellsouth.com
