BellSouth launches LD service in five states

BellSouth launched interLATA service in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi today, bringing to seven the number of states in which it provides long-distance service. The carrier launched long-distance service in Georgia and Louisiana in May 2002, and said it hopes to expand its long-distance offering to Florida and Tennessee by the end of the year.

Among the service offerings available to customers in the five states is BellSouth Answers, a bundled package that includes the BellSouth Complete Choice local service offering, plus long distance, data and wireless services. According to BellSouth, customers can achieve discounts of about 10 percent, depending on the services they select.

Ike Harris, BellSouth’s president of consumer services, said in a prepared statement that more than two-thirds of the carrier’s customers have indicated they want to receive all of their telecommunications services from one provider. "We knew it was important for us to provide this capability in a way that delivers tremendous simplicity and convenience to our customers," said Harris.

A spokesman for BellSouth said the company had queried customers several times through mail and telephone surveys and focus groups over the past two years, and got the same answer each time. “At least two-thirds of every metric came back in favor of getting all of their services from one provider,” he said.

In addition to BellSouth Answers, the carrier also launched two new international calling plans and a business offering called BellSouth Platinum Preferred, which offers businesses that spend more than $250 per month on long-distance to receive rates as low as 5.8 cents per minute.