<p>BellSouth Corp., the regional phone giant that provides local service in the Southeast, reported its earnings climbed 87 percent in the fourth quarter due to a big gain on sale of its Latin American business.</p><p>But it said its earnings from continuing operations fell 24 percent and missed Wall Street's expectations.</p><p>The Atlanta-based telecommunications company said Tuesday it earned $1.47 billion, or 80 cents per share, for the three months ending Dec. 31, compared to $787 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier.</p><p>Those results included a $915 million gain on the sale of eight of its 10 Latin American properties.</p><p>BellSouth also reported 224,000 new customers to its DSL service, 467,000 to its long distance service and 1.8 million new Cingular subscribers. Cingular Wireless LLC on Monday reported a fourth-quarter loss in results skewed by its acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc.</p><p>In addition to its regular telephone operations, BellSouth is a 40 percent owner of Cingular. Including its proportionate share of Cingular Wireless' results and excluding one-time items _ including hurricane-related expenses, wireless merger integration costs and severance and lease termination costs _ BellSouth said it earned $640 million, or 35 cents a share, versus $846 million a year ago.</p><p>That latest result fell below expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, which predicted 41 cents a share.</p><p>Revenue for the October-December quarter rose to $5.15 billion, compared to $5.11 billion in the year-ago period.</p><p>For the entire year, BellSouth said it earned $4.87 billion, or $2.65 cents a share, compared to a profit of $3.9 billion, or $2.11 cents a share, in the previous year. That represents a 24.6 percent increase in net incomes. Twelve-month revenue slightly decreased to $20.3 billion from $20.34 billion a year ago.</p><p>Including its share of Cingular, BellSouth said it earned $3.36 billion, or $1.83 a share, compared to a 2003 net income of $3.62 billion, or $1.95 a share.</p><p>BellSouth, one of the regional phone companies that emerged from the Bell System breakup, is the dominant local service provider in nine Southeastern states.</p><p>BellSouth provides 21.36 million total access lines to customers in Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Louisiana. This is in addition to its operations in Israel and China.</p><p>Its shares fell 32 cents to $26.24 in late morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Its 52-week low was $24.46 in June.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2865100)</p>
