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BellSouth profits up
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October 19, 2000: 10:14 a.m. ET
Colombian wireless acquisition obscures success of Baby Bell profits
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - BellSouth Corp. Thursday reported earnings rose 4 percent in the third quarter, edging past Wall Street forecasts, as the regional phone company saw strong growth in some of its Internet, data and wireless businesses.
The company said it earned $1.03 billion, or 55 cents a diluted share, in the quarter. But that included a 2-cent-a-share reduction in earnings from recently acquired Colombian wireless operations. Excluding that reduction, earnings topped forecasts of 56 cents a share, according to First Call, which tracks Wall Street forecasts.
Atlanta-based BellSouth earned $951 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales rose 7.5 percent to $6.9 billion from $6.4 billion.
The company's primary business is local phone service but it is seeing faster growth in wireless, Internet and other data business. "We're leveraging our existing network assets to create a sophisticated
new platform for data, Internet services and e-business," Chairman Duane Ackerman said in a statement with the results.
BellSouth (BLS: Research, Estimates) stock fell 88 cents to $40.94 in early trading. 
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