BellSouth CEO speaks about merger

BellSouth's Chairman and CEO Duane Ackerman spoke recently about the announced merger between BellSouth and AT&T, saying that the merger is critical in the continued development of the telecommunications industry. He was quoted in the article BellSouth chief discusses merger benefits as saying, "The combination of AT&T and BellSouth creates economies of scale that will enable us to invest in new technology and benefit from the substantial cost-efficiencies the merger creates." Ackerman made these comments at the TELECOMNEXT conference in Las Vegas.