ATLANTA -- BellSouth Corporation, one of the original signatories of the SUPERCOMM Supplier Diversity Challenge issued in 1998, is pleased to announce that the company has met the five-year Challenge. While recognizing this milestone, BellSouth will continue to increase the amount of business it does with diversity suppliers.
    The 1998 SUPERCOMM Supplier Diversity Challenge set a goal, urging participating companies within the telecommunications industry to spend at least 10 percent of their procurement dollars with diversity suppliers by
2003.
    "I am extremely pleased that BellSouth took a leadership role in accepting the Supplier Diversity Challenge," said BellSouth Chairman and CEO Duane Ackerman.
    "While we celebrate this milestone, I look forward to working with our current and potential suppliers, to increase that percentage until it better reflects the diverse communities we serve," Ackerman said.  "Our commitment to
supplier diversity, and to our communities, is long term."
    Since 1999, BellSouth has spent over $2.5 billion with diverse suppliers. In just the past three years, the share of its procurement budget won by diversity suppliers has increased 57 percent. Diversity suppliers add value throughout BellSouth's business, providing everything from call center services to temporary staffing, from printing to network equipment, from construction to courier services, from advertising to transportation and logistics, from legal services to software development.
    For more information on Supplier Diversity at BellSouth, or to submit a company profile, please visit http://www.bellsouth.com/suppliers .

    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 second 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 (SM), 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 (sm) and The Real Yellow Pages (R).

    More information about BellSouth can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com .