 All of Bellsouth's operations in Latin America were acquired by Telefonica in late 2004 for nearly $5.85 billion.As part of the breakup of the old AT&T during 1984, BellSouth was formed as the holding company for the telephone operating companies in the southern portion of the old Bell System—Atlanta-based Southern Bell and Birmingham, Alabama-based South Central Bell.The creation of BellSouth, in effect, reunited most telephone service in the Southeastern United States.