Date: Mon, 3 Aug 92 21:03:26 PDT From: Anonymous@CUP.PORTAL.COM Subject: File 5--BellSouth Shareholders Note ((Thought you might be interested in the following text from the BellSouth shareholder report. -ANON-)) Urgent Appeal To BellSouth Shareholders The range of consumer choices, along with the future growth opportunities of BellSouth and the other Bell holding companies, would be sharply limited by H. R. 5096 - the "Brooks bill." This legislation is being pushed through Congress by giant media corporations as a means of keeping competition out of their lines of business. PLEASE WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TODAY, EXPRESSING YOUR OPPOSITION TO H. R. 5096. KEY POINTS TO MAKE WITH YOUR REPRESENTATIVE: The Brooks bill must be stopped because it would: 1. deny consumers access to a rich array of information services 2. hurt domestic employment and 3. stifle competition. To obtain the name of your representative, call the U. S. Capitol at 202-224-3121. Mail your letter to your representative at U. S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515. For more about the Brooks bill, see pages 1 and 7 of this newsletter, and/or mail the enclosed card. You may also call 1-800-522-2355, ext. 44. Thank you for helping BellSouth preserve its right to compete. Dear Shareholders: We had a strong second quarter. Earnings increased 26 percent, driven by growth in both our telephone and cellular businesses, and by continued cost control. But the good quarterly results were clouded by a discriminatory bill that is moving through the U.S. House of Representatives this summer. And we need your help to defeat it. BILL WOULD HURT CONSUMERS H.R. 5096, also known as the "Brooks bill," would effectively legislate BellSouth and the other Bell holding companies (BHCs) out of promising areas of growth in the industry we know best. It would do this by enacting into law three of the line of business restrictions imposed by the courts at divestiture - including information services, which the courts already have allowed us to enter. The bill is bad for customers, shareholders and employees. Customers would be deprived of many new services that could improve their quality of life. In fact, because BellSouth already has information services in operation, our customers stand to have the door slammed in their faces when it comes to enhancing and expanding existing services. The Brooks bill would hurt shareholders, primarily because it severely limits our ability to increase the uses - and, therefore, the value - of the sophisticated network your capital has helped build. LET CONGRESS KNOW WHERE YOU STAND What can you do? Write or call your Representative in the U.S. House. Tell him or her that you. as someone with a substantial stake in BellSouth. oppose H.R. 5096 because the bill is anti-jobs, anti-consumer and anti-competitive. I know many of you already have written to Congress because you sent me copies of your letters. But this issue is so critical to you, our owners. that I am asking you to write again. You can affect what Congress does. and you can take action to protect your investment in BellSouth. Please add your voice to that of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and hundreds of other groups who oppose the Brooks bill. Write your Representative now. and if you would also like to receive a briefing package on this legislation, please return the enclosed postcard. or call 1-800-522-2355, ext. 44. BellSouth and the CWA aren't afraid to compete for the customer's business.and we shouldn't be denied the opportunity to do so. ======================================================================= Positioning BellSouth for the Future Excerpts from Chairman John Clendenin's remarks at the annual shareholder's meeting in April. "1991 was an extraordinary year in terms of positioning BellSouth for the future. What we're seeing is the natural evolution of a totally flexible new generation of telecommunications technology, and the freeing of people from the communication umbilical cord that has tied them to the office or the home." "It's our conviction that the ability to combine wireless and wireline skills - often in partnership with others - will serve our customers, and hence our owners best." "We're looking at our core telephone network in new ways, including the philosophy of how we use it. We aim to grow our business by making our core telephone intelligent network attractive for other information providers to use. We're looking at ways to deliver more services in joint efforts with others." "RAM Mobile Data puts us on the forefront of another promising market - wireless data transmission. Ultimately, this new technology's growth is expected to parallel the explosive growth of cellular. There are an estimated 10 million potential mobile data users in the U. S. alone." "We are on the leading edge of technology, and we are absolutely committed to staying there. Overseas and here in the U. S. we're setting the pace in developing all the technical and other skills it takes to give customers whatever it takes to communicate, whenever and wherever they want to." "As competitors take local exchange business from us, we have to regain the freedom to get into other areas. Keeping our freedom to provide sophisticated information services, such as distance learning, is our top priority. Eventually, these will be very important markets for us. But some powerful interests, particularly some big media companies that own newspapers and cable TV operations don't want us in information services, and they're lobbying Congress to take away the freedom we've gained from the courts. If they have their way, BellSouth will be kept away from a big portion of the growing telecommunications pie in this exploding Age of Information." "I've got a request: Write your U. S. Representative and your U. S. Senators. Let them know that BellSouth, the other Bell holding companies and America's consumers, shouldn't be denied information services to protect the financial interests of those big media companies. Tell them you oppose H. R. 5096, called the Brooks bill." Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253