NEW YORK (Dow Jones News) - BellSouth Corp. and Accenture Ltd. have agreed to expand an outsourcing agreement, under which about 275 BellSouth information technology workers will become Accenture employees.

Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

The deals, which runs through 2007, extends a three-year agreement from 1998 that would have expired soon. The extension takes effect January 1.

Bermuda-based Accenture, which was still Andersen Consulting when it won the 1998 contract, will continue to manage the software backbone of BellSouth's telephone and Internet services, as well as other aspects such as customer service, billing, marketing, finance, Web services, human resources and payroll.

Accenture said it will provide more technical support for some of BellSouth's "high-growth" initiatives that blossomed since the signing of the first deal, including BellSouth's Internet access business and its wholesale business.