SAN FRANCISCO (Standard&Poor's) March 16, 2009--Standard&Poor's Rating Services said today it affirmed its ratings on Dallas-based integrated telecommunications carrier AT&T Inc. including the `A' corporate credit rating. At the same time, we revised the long-term rating outlook to negative from stable. "The outlook change reflects a number of events that, in aggregate, have materially boosted debt levels," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Richard Siderman, "leaving little room for additional leverage at the current rating level." Adjusted debt/EBITDA was 2.7x at Dec. 31, 2008, well above the 1.9x level a year ago and considerably higher than our earlier expectation of leverage in the low-2x area in 2009. The increased debt can be attributed to the 2008
