. The new entity, known as BellSouth, was at that point the largest Baby Bell. The formative years Throughout the 1980s and 1990s BellSouth expanded its services, mostly by acquiring cellular and paging companies, as it did in 1991 when it bought 18 cellular systems from McCaw Cellular. In 1995, the company invested heavily in the personal communication service (PCS) standard for mobile services when it bid $47.5 billion in an FCC auction of the broadband radio spectrum. Two years later, with Duane Ackerman as CEO, the company began to expand abroad, especially in Latin America. A Cingular sensation In October 2000, BellSouth combined its wireless phone operations with those of SBC Communications, to create Cingular Wireless, the second-largest wireless Visit Vault at www.vault.com for insider company profiles, expert advice, VAULT CAREER career message boards, expert resume reviews, the Vault Job Board and more. LIBRARY Vault Guide to the Top Telecom Employers BellSouth Corp. company in the U.S. BellSouth owns 40 percent of the venture, while SBC owns the remaining 60 percent. As of 2005, Cingular Wireless had 50 million customers. In mid-2002 Cingular moved into the New York City market thanks to a joint venture with T-Mobile (then known as VoiceStream) that lets it compete in the coveted market without having to build its own network. Broadband and data Broadband services are a major growth area for BellSouth. The company is one of the fastest growing Internet service providers in the Southeast with over two million customers at the end of 2004. For the full year 2003, revenues at the company increased 0.9 percent to $22.6 billion, while income rose to $3.9 billion from $1.3 billion the previous year. Repositioning In keeping with BellSouth's stated desire to concentrate its wireless business in the North American market, in March 2004, the company announced an agreement to sell its interests in its 10 Latin American operations to Telefonica Moviles, the wireless affiliate of Telefonica, S.A. for $5.8 billion 