BellSouth sells Argentina Ops

Bellsouth Corp 11 January 2005 More information Brent Fowler BellSouth Media Relations 404-249-2839 brent.fowler@bellsouth.com BellSouth and Telefonica Moviles Complete Transfer of Operations in Argentina -- All 10 Latin American Operations Now Transferred -- ATLANTA - January 11, 2005 - BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) and Telefonica Moviles S.A. (NYSE: TEM), the wireless affiliate of Telefonica, S.A. (NYSE: TEF), announced today that the two companies have completed the transfer of BellSouth's wireless operations ownership interest in Argentina. Telefonica Moviles has taken control of the operations of this property, effective immediately. The transfer of all BellSouth ownership interests in Latin America is now complete. BellSouth will receive $674 million for its interest in Argentina and will recognize an after-tax gain of approximately $330 to $340 million, or approximately 18 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2005. The two companies announced in March 2004 that they had reached a definitive agreement for BellSouth to sell its interests in 10 Latin American operations to Telefonica Moviles. The agreement provided a purchase price based on total enterprise value of $5.85 billion. As previously announced, BellSouth sold its interest in the operations in Ecuador, Guatemala and Panama on October 14, 2004 and Colombia, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela on October 28, 2004. Subsequently, BellSouth sold its interest in Chile on January 7, 2005. About BellSouth Corporation BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and a parent company of Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless voice and data provider. Backed by award winning customer service, BellSouth offers the most comprehensive and innovative package of voice and data services available in the market. Through BellSouth Answers(R), residential and small business customers can bundle their local and long distance service with dial up and high speed DSL Internet access, satellite television and Cingular(R) Wireless service. For businesses, BellSouth provides secure, reliable local and long distance voice and data networking solutions. BellSouth also offers online and directory advertising through BellSouth(R) RealPages.com(R) and The Real Yellow Pages(R). More information about BellSouth can be found at www.bellsouth.com. In addition to historical information, this document may contain forward-looking statements regarding events and financial trends. Factors that could affect future results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include: (i) a change in economic conditions in domestic or international markets where we operate or have material investments which would affect demand for our services; (ii) currency devaluations and continued economic weakness in certain international markets in which we operate or have material investments; (iii) the intensity of competitive activity and its resulting impact on pricing strategies and new product offerings; (iv) higher than anticipated cash requirements for investments, new business initiatives and acquisitions; (v) unfavorable regulatory actions and (vi) those factors contained in the Company's periodic reports filed with the SEC. The forward-looking information in this document is given as of this date only, and, BellSouth assumes no duty to update this information. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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