BellSouth (Atlanta, GA), local phone company, reports 4th-qtr 2002 net profit which fell by 25% to USDlr597 mil, vs USDlr792 mil for the year-earlier period, on sales which fell by 8.4% to USDlr5.69 bil from USDlr6.21 bil. The decline was attributed to the loss of customers to rival operators, e-mail and cellular services. The company saw its number of phone lines fall by 819k lines to 24.6 mil lines during 4th-qtr 2002. Turnover from Latin America, where the company offers wireless services, fell by 29% to
