Chief Procurement Executive Tim Houghton wins Voice Award; Supplier Diversity Manager Beverly Wesley named Advocate of the Year

ATLANTA, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:BLS) is honored to be selected as Corporation of the Year by the Georgia Women's Business Council. The presentation, made during the GWBC's annual awards luncheon, cited BellSouth for its leadership in providing business and developmental opportunities for woman-owned firms in Georgia.

Also at the event, BellSouth Chief Procurement Executive Tim Houghton was given the GWBC Voice Award and BellSouth Supplier Diversity Manager Beverly Wesley was named the GWBC's Advocate of the Year for their work in fostering and promoting relationships with woman-owned companies.
BellSouth believes that by fostering entrepreneurship in woman-and minority-owned firms, it helps build prosperous communities, which in turn, help build a stronger BellSouth.

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KRASNODAR, Russia (Business Wire) Nov. 17, 2004 -- Southern Telecommunications Company («UTK») (RTS:KUBN, KUBNP; OTC:STJSY), the principal telecommunications provider for Russia’s Southern Federal District, today reported its 2003 financial results in accordance with International accounting standards (IAS).

-- 2003 consolidated revenues rose 17.4% over 2002, reaching RUR 13,966.1 mln (USD 455.4 mln);

-- 2003 OIBDA increased 16.9% year on year to RUR 3,608.1 mln (USD 117.6 mln) representing an OIBDA margin of 25.8%;

-- Operating income grew 77.9% to RUR 1,118.2 mln (USD 36.5 mln);

-- 2003 revenues from new value added services rose 51.3% to RUR 580.2 mln (USD 18.9 mln);

-- Number of basic telephone sets (subscriber lines in use) increased 79% year on year as a total of 296.8 ths new subscribers were added in 2003;

-- Long-distance traffic grew 17.2% to 1.84 trillion minutes.

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PLYMOUTH MEETING, /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ SmartServ Online,
Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SSRV), a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) that
provides mobile phone service with the best in low cost pre-paid minute plans and the latest in mobile content, announced today that it has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Telco Group, Inc., and affiliates. Telco is a New York-based provider of pay-as-you-go wireless telecommunications services ([ >>> ] prepaid international long distance, nationwide dial around long distance ([ >>> ] and nationwide dial up high speed internet services ([ >>> ]

The completion of this transaction is expected to add over $300 million in
annual revenue.

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Julia Peppiatt
Princetonian Staff Writer

The surge of cell phone use around the world over the past few years has not bypassed the University community. The multitude of rings, beeps and message alerts that greet the ear when walking across campus indicate the phenomenon has pierced the orange bubble.

«I don’t know how to work my room phone,» Bradford Stevens ’08 said. «At the moment it’s flashing — I don’t know if that’s a good sign.»

Many students agree. Due to the increasing availability and convenience of cell phones, they rarely find an occasion to use their room phones.

Frank Ferrara, telecommunications department manager, said anecdotal evidence confirms the trend.

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Scam sucks Net users into pricey long-distance calls

From Bend.com news sources
Posted: Wednesday, November 17, 2004 11:47 AM
Reference Code: AR-19441

November 17 — Attorney General Hardy Myers warned Oregon consumers Wednesday to carefully read their monthly telephone bills, looking for unauthorized, international long distance charges, oftentimes in the hundreds to thousands of dollars.

The bills list calls to Guinea Bissau, Vanuatu in the Southwest Pacific, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Chad, or Madagascar and consumers are often stumped as to who made the calls and how the charges ended upon their bills.

„Chances are the consumer or someone in his or her family was misled — via voicemail or pager —into calling a number with an international pay-per-call area code such as 809. These area codes are connected to fees that are calculated per minute, and can often result in exorbitant bills,“ Myers explained.

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