
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 19, 1995                   TAG: 9505190080
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                 LENGTH: Medium

BELLSOUTH PLANNING TO CUT 11,000 MORE JOBS

BellSouth Corp., the regional telephone company that has announced thousands of job cuts in the past three years, said Thursday it will slash as many as 11,000 more by 1997, or about 15 percent of its current work force.

The reductions will affect BellSouth Telecommunications, the Atlanta-based company's largest and most visible unit. It provides local telephone service through its Southern Bell subsidiary in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and through South Central Bell in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The company said it has not yet determined how many cuts will be made in each state. The total will be between 9,000 and 11,000, it said.

The layoffs will have no effect on BellSouth Communication Systems Inc., a subsidiary based in Roanoke, said Fred Shaftman, the unit's president. BellSouth Communication, which has 150 employees in Roanoke and 1,300 companywide, is an unregulated business that provides phone systems to business and institutional customers. The layoffs affect only the government- regulated segment of the parent company's business, Shaftman said.

About 10,200 jobs already have been cut at BellSouth Telecommunications since 1992. The company now employs about 73,500, including 5,000 positions that are being eliminated this year as part of a previously announced cut.

BellSouth, largest of the Baby Bells, has enjoyed record profits and is considered to be one of the key players as the industry expands into such interactive businesses as entertainment and home shopping. But the core business of phone service, once a monopoly, is facing increased competition.

``We're looking at an industry that is changing dramatically. We're very prosperous now ... but we can't stand still,'' said Jere Drummond, BellSouth Telecommunications president.

The cuts announced to date, as well as some smaller measures that may be taken later this year, should get BellSouth down to ``competitive size or fighting weight,'' Drummond said.

There could be further cuts, he said. ``There are no guarantees in a competitive environment. I told our employees that very candidly.''

Donald Ratajczak, director of economic forecasting at Georgia State University, said the cuts, while large, could be absorbed by the region's economy without major difficulty.

Staff writer Greg Edwards contributed to this story.

by CNB