BellSouth is delivering solid revenue growth and strong earnings growth. BellSouth's earnings for the quarter reflect the value of our asset mix as the industry continues to undergo a transition to new services and new competition emerges.

During my most recent visit two weeks ago, I was struck by the destruction that still remains.

This was the right time for this merger. This combination is good for our employees, our customers and our stockholders.

Technology changes and convergence are shaping a new competitive dynamic and creating tremendous opportunity. We're creating a company with much better capabilities to seize these opportunities while maintaining its strong focus on customer service and community involvement. This was the right time for this merger. This combination is good for our employees, our customers and our stockholders.

Valencia has done an excellent job of building and guiding a very thoughtful and effective diversity and inclusion strategy at our company. Her long history of service at BellSouth and in the community combined with her breadth of business knowledge makes her a tremendous asset to this Board.

Our customers have told us that they want access to high-speed data services. Through expanded deployment strategies and highly successful self-installs, we believe that our 2001 projection is very achievable.