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BellSouth to pay early marketing fine

Posted on: Friday, 18 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

ATLANTA - BellSouth Corp. will pay a $1.4 million fine for marketing long-distance service in some Southeastern states before federal regulators had approved its entry into that market.

In a consent decree released Thursday, the Atlanta-based telecommunications company agreed to the fine to end a yearlong Federal Communications Commission probe.

Federal authorities accused BellSouth of advertising for new long- distance service before it was allowed in some cases.

For instance, BellSouth bought commercials on Atlanta television stations to advertise the service in May and June 2002. BellSouth had permission to sell the service in Georgia, but not in Alabama, where the commercials also were seen. BellSouth wasn't allowed to sell long distance in Alabama until September.

The FCC in December granted BellSouth permission to sell long distance in Florida and Tennessee, the final two states the company sought for long-distance approval, becoming the first of the four regional Bell companies to achieve that goal.

A BellSouth vendor made telemarketing calls about the new service in Florida and Tennessee two months before it was approved, but BellSouth later called those customers back to say the service wasn't available.

"The incidents were minor, inadvertent and regrettable. We are satisfied that our systems were upgraded quickly to prevent any recurrence," BellSouth said in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

Shares of BellSouth, the dominant phone provider in nine Southeastern states, fell 89 cents to close at $25.26 Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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