BellSouth Telecommunications is a service provider which serves the southern United States. It formed as a result of the 1984 AT&T Bell System breakup. BellSouth operates in nine states: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana. The Bell System telephone companies before BellSouth were South Central Bell and Southern Bell in these nine states. BellSouth is currently under the ownership of AT&T.