ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. announced fourth-quarter earnings, excluding one-time charges, rose from 42 cents per share in 1998 to 53 cents per share in 1999, an increase of 26 percent.
The company saw fourth-quarter revenue increase 8.3 percent from $6.2 billion to $6.7 billion and year-end revenue grow 9.1 percent to $25.2 billion in 1999. BellSouth credited the increased domestic revenue to brisk U.S. demand for Internet, data, wireless and calling feature services.
BellSouth’s domestic cellular and personal communications services units reported revenue of $836 million during the quarter, an 18.6-percent increase compared with revenue of $705 million during the same quarter of 1998. The company added 661,000 wireless subscribers in the United States last year, including 202,000 during the fourth quarter.
