BellSouth Telecommunications, LLC was an operating company of

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

that served the southeastern United States. It consisted of the operations of

Southern Bell Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company was once the regional Bell Operating Company serving the states of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina prior to the breakup of AT&T. It also covered the states of Alabama, Kentuc ...

and

South Central Bell South Central Bell Telephone Company, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, was the name of the Bell System's operations in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. South Central Bell was created in July 1968 when the Bell tel ...

. BellSouth Telecommunications was a subsidiary of BellSouth Corporation which was acquired by AT&T Inc. on December 29, 2006.

History

BellSouth Telecommunications was formed in 1983 as SBT&T Co.. Incorporated in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in 1983, it replaced the original Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company that was incorporated in New York in 1879. SBT&T Co. and Southern Bell merged on December 31, 1983, and the merged company took the Southern Bell name.

South Central Bell

South Central Bell Telephone Company served what had been the western portion of the "old" Southern Bell's territory until 1967. In 1983, BellSouth Corporation was formed as the holding company for South Central Bell and the "new" Southern Bell, effectively reuniting most telephone service in the Southeastern United States. South Central Bell was headquartered in (what is now) the AT&T City Center building in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...

BellSouth Services

BellSouth Services, Inc. was the name of the shared service company formed to provide common functions such as engineering and information technology across the nine state Southern Bell and South Central Bell operating region. The division was headquartered in

in what is now the AT&T Colonnade North and South buildings.

Operating company merger

On January 1, 1992, BellSouth merged South Central Bell and BellSouth Services into Southern Bell, creating a single operating company which was renamed BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc., one year after

U S WEST US West, Inc. (stylized as US WEST) was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (''United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc.'' 552 ...

had done the same by merging its operations into Mountain Bell which was renamed U S WEST Communications. The merger reconstituted the size of the original Southern Bell before the South Central Bell split-off. BellSouth Telecommunications continued to do business as Southern Bell and South Central Bell until 1995, when BellSouth was adopted as the sole customer-facing brand. AT&T Midtown Center, Atlanta

Acquisition

On March 5, 2006,

(SBC after acquiring the original AT&T) announced its intentions to acquire

BellSouth BellSouth, LLC (stylized as ''BELLSOUTH'' and formerly known as BellSouth Corporation) was an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after ...

Corporation, and on December 29, 2006 BellSouth Telecommunications became an operating company of

The merger also consolidated the ownership of Cingular Wireless, which became

AT&T Mobility AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the th ...

. BellSouth Telecommunications ceased doing business under the BellSouth name on June 30, 2007. It now does business under the following names: *AT&T Alabama *AT&T Florida *AT&T Georgia *AT&T Kentucky *AT&T Louisiana *AT&T Mississippi *AT&T North Carolina *AT&T South Carolina *AT&T Southeast *AT&T Tennessee On July 1, 2011, BellSouth Telecommunications was converted into a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability ...

, becoming known as BellSouth Telecommunications, LLC.

References