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BellSouth Is One the of 'Top 50 Companies for Diversity' No. 4 for Supplier Diversity ATLANTA, April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:BLS) today announced it has been named to DiversityInc's "Top 50 Companies for Diversity" and its "Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity" lists. BellSouth ranks No. 42 on the overall diversity list and No. 4 on the supplier diversity list. "I am confident that BellSouth's commitment to inclusion will have a far- reaching, positive impact on how we conduct business," said BellSouth's Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Valencia Adams. "Solid inclusion and supplier diversity strategies help strengthen our employee base and our ties to the community and, ultimately, help us provide better products and services to all of our customers," she added. According to DiversityInc, this year's rankings are based on 230 detailed questions analyzing human capital, CEO commitment, corporate communications and supplier diversity. "The methodology is unbiased and ethical, and advertisers receive no special preference," said Luke Visconti, partner and co-founder of DiversityInc. "BellSouth merits its place on the list because the corporation has made it a priority to expand its reach in order to do business with communities of color and women-owned businesses," he added. According to Visconti, in the supplier diversity area -- where BellSouth scored high -- important factors included: percentage spent with Tier 1 minority and women-owned businesses, percentage spent with Tier II minority and women-owned businesses, and number of diverse suppliers. Other factors include dollar amount spent with women- and minority-owned businesses, and whether gay/lesbian businesses are included in supplier-diversity tracking. New this year, are measurements for supplier diversity and third-party certification. A total of 203 companies competed in the fifth annual survey. BellSouth will be included in the June issue of DiversityInc magazine along with the other recognized companies. Publicly traded corporations that make the Top 50 list will automatically qualify for the DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity Stock Index. The market-cap index is calculated by Standard & Poor's and proves there is a link between the empirical data identifying a company as a national diversity leader and its stock performance. About DiversityInc. DiversityInc Media, LLC publishes DiversityInc, the magazine and DiversityInc.com. DiversityInc.com includes the leading diversity career center for professionals and a benchmarking practice. Launched in 1998, DiversityInc's editorial mission is to provide education and clarity on the business benefits of diversity. 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 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(R), 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(R) and The Real Yellow Pages(R). More information about BellSouth can be found at http://www.bellsouth.com/. DATASOURCE: BellSouth Corporation CONTACT: Angela Brooks of BellSouth Corporation, +1-404-249-2365, or Web site: http://www.bellsouth.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/095650.html

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