BellSouth posts $733 million third-quarter profit

ATLANTA - BellSouth Corporation&#39;s profit jumped in the third quarter from results depressed by charges a year ago, but warned that its business continues to suffer from slowing wireless growth and continued shaky economies in South America. <br> <br> The results were in line with reduced Wall Street expectations. <br> <br> For the July-September period, the Atlanta-based telecommunications company earned $733 million, or 39 cents a share. That&#39;s up from $7 million earned in the same quarter of 2001. <br> <br> The year-ago results were skewed by the company&#39;s decision to lump $1.2 billion of asset writedowns into the quarter. <br> <br> The latest reported results include charges of 6 cents per share for the 5,000 job cuts BellSouth announced last quarter, 5 cents for service curtailments, 1 cent for currency losses and a penny for repaying debt early. <br> <br> The results surpassed analysts&#39; lowered expectation of 50 cents, according to Thomson First Call. <br> <br> BellSouth says cooling demand for wireless service depressed profits. BellSouth&#39;s wireless venture, Cingular, reported its first subscriber decline, losing 107,000 customers compared to the same quarter a year ago. Last week, rival Sprint PCS also reported a decline in mobile subscribers.

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