Mississippi and BellSouth: Teamed up for your Business Success

For more than a century, BellSouth has played a vital role in the growth and expansion of commerce and industry in Mississippi. Approximately $3 billion of investment capital has gone into building an advanced telecommunications network to serve today's global economy. By partnering with various economic development agencies and interests in Mississippi, BellSouth continues to provide the telecommunications infrastructure that businesses and industries need to grow and prosper. Economic development alliances include the following:

Economic Development Incentives Tariff

• BellSouth is an active partner with Economic Development Agencies in Mississippi to provide incentives for the location and expansion of business and industry in Mississippi.
• Through the Economic Development Incentive Tariff, BellSouth provides financial incentives for businesses to locate or expand in Mississippi. Businesses that operate in Mississippi for at least one full year are eligible for these incentives.

Chambers of Commerce

• BellSouth public affairs managers take an active role in more than 64 local, county and metropolitan Chambers of Commerce. These managers are also actively involved in more than 55 economic development councils and foundations in Mississippi.
• BellSouth initiated the Chamber Grant Program in support of Mississippi Chambers of Commerce that best demonstrate ways to support the development of small business in their communities.
• In 1997, BellSouth awarded a $10,000 Chamber Grant to two recipients - the Grenada County Chamber of Commerce, which used its grant to develop a business incubator network, and the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce, which created a Small Business Innovative Learning Center. This year, four grants will be awarded in Mississippi.

Mississippi Resource Center

• Since its inception in February 1993, the Mississippi Resource Center (MRC) has supported economic developers throughout the state with multimedia and portfolio presentations to more than 1,000 prospects.
• The MRC is funded by 31 private-sector businesses and two public-sector organizations. BellSouth is proud to have played a part in establishing the MRC and to continue as a "partner in success" in building a stronger Mississippi.
• As a non-profit public/private sector company, the MRC effort has yielded 49 successes and more than $1 billion in capital investment with an estimated total employment of 15,400. Southwest Airlines, Wellman, and Mazda are just a few of the companies the MRC has played a role in relocating to Mississippi.

Mississippi FiberNet 2000

• Mississippi FiberNet 2000 is the first publicly switched fiber optic educational network in the United States, providing cutting edge telecommunications technologies to improve education in rural areas and to evaluate new telecommunications and computer technologies in an educational environment.
• The Mississippi Legislature funded the installation of a Backbone Frame Relay network for Mississippi State Government. The Backbone connects a Jackson Hub to regional nodes in Meridian, Tupelo, Greenwood and Hattiesburg.
• The Backbone network is used in more than 100 video classrooms at educational facilities across Mississippi as well as to conduct the day-to-day business of many agencies of state government.

Lextron Corporation

• BellSouth and Lucent Technologies entered into a contract with Jackson-based Lextron Corporation to become the exclusive manufacturer of telephone multi-station protectors.
• Since the multimillion-dollar contract became effective, Lextron has grown from seven employees to more than 300.
• BellSouth and Lucent Technologies chose the minority-owned company to award the contract because of the company's past record of providing quality products and its plant facilities and engineering resources.