NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - BellSouth Corp. Monday reported a lower second-quarter profit than a year earlier, missing Wall Street expectations, as the regional telecommunications provider struggled with sluggish demand in the United States and Latin America.

For the latest quarter, the Baby Bell posted earnings of $996 million, or 53 cents a share, down from earnings of $1 billion, or 58 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by earnings tracker First Call anticipated earnings of 57 cents a share.

Second-quarter revenue fell 1.6 percent to $7.2 billion from $7.4 billion.

Shares of Atlanta-based BellSouth (BLS: Research, Estimates) fell $1.57 to $27.61 Friday.